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Foreign Trade, Human Capital and Economic Growth in India under the Liberalised Trade Regime

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  • Biswajit Maitra
  • Moutushi Chakraborty

Abstract

This study revisits trade–growth dynamics in India augmenting the role of human capital for the liberalised trade regime. The autoregressive distributed lag-bounds testing approach finds cointegrating relation of income with the different combinations of export, import, exchange rate, trade openness, education and health dimension of human capital. The long-run and short-run dynamics of such relations confirm that both export and import enhance income growth that testifies export-led and import-led growth premises. Trade openness proves detrimental to growth, while human capital spurs growth. However, the growth gains from the human capital vary across alternative measures of human capital. A battery of diagnostic tests corroborates these inferences robustly. Policy manifestation for trade promotion might be beneficial for higher economic growth in India. JEL Codes: F43, F13, F14, O24

Suggested Citation

  • Biswajit Maitra & Moutushi Chakraborty, 2023. "Foreign Trade, Human Capital and Economic Growth in India under the Liberalised Trade Regime," Journal of Asian Economic Integration, , vol. 5(1), pages 29-50, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jfasei:v:5:y:2023:i:1:p:29-50
    DOI: 10.1177/26316846221147581
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic growth; human capital; international trade; trade openness; trade liberalisation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • O24 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Trade Policy; Factor Movement; Foreign Exchange Policy

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