IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/10645.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Trade-Growth Nexus: Evidence of Causality from Innovative Instruments for Trade

Author

Listed:
  • Nana,Ibrahim
  • Motelle,Sephooko Ignatius
  • Starnes,Susan K.

Abstract

During the past decades, extensive literature has emphasized the role of both international trade and openness in fostering economic growth. Endogeneity bias is a nagging challenge for any empirical attempt to study the causal relationship between trade and economic growth. This study contributes to the existing stock of knowledge and helps to address these challenges by introducing new instrumental variables for trade. The study samples 197 countries over 1970–2020. The findings suggest that international trade has a positive and significant effect on gross domestic product per capita, which tends to be higher for emerging markets and development economies. Thus, the study provides an enhanced empirical foundation for the expectation that investments made to support trade are also good for economic growth, especially in emerging markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Nana,Ibrahim & Motelle,Sephooko Ignatius & Starnes,Susan K., 2023. "The Trade-Growth Nexus: Evidence of Causality from Innovative Instruments for Trade," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10645, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10645
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099550412132341350/pdf/IDU1a68116e91579814937191a71918736db8633.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Khan, Saleheen & Tahir, Mohammad Iqbal, 2013. "The dynamic links between energy consumption, economic growth, financial development and trade in China: Fresh evidence from multivariate framework analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 8-21.
    2. Bodman, Philip M, 1996. "On Export-Led Growth in Australia and Canada: Cointegration, Causality and Structural Stability," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(67), pages 282-299, December.
    3. L Alan Winters, 2004. "Trade Liberalisation and Economic Performance: An Overview," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(493), pages 4-21, February.
    4. Abramovitz, Moses, 1986. "Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Behind," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(2), pages 385-406, June.
    5. Levine, Ross & Renelt, David, 1992. "A Sensitivity Analysis of Cross-Country Growth Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 942-963, September.
    6. Markus Brückner & Antonio Ciccone, 2011. "Rain and the Democratic Window of Opportunity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(3), pages 923-947, May.
    7. Kunst, Robert M & Marin, Dalia, 1989. "On Exports and Productivity: A Causal Analysis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(4), pages 699-703, November.
    8. Romain Wacziarg & Karen Horn Welch, 2008. "Trade Liberalization and Growth: New Evidence," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 22(2), pages 187-231, June.
    9. Mr. Peter Doyle & Mr. Peter F. Christoffersen, 1998. "From Inflation to Growth: Eight Years of Transition," IMF Working Papers 1998/100, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2012. "Does trade openness affect long run growth? Cointegration, causality and forecast error variance decomposition tests for Pakistan," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 2325-2339.
    11. López-Villavicencio, Antonia & Mignon, Valérie, 2011. "On the impact of inflation on output growth: Does the level of inflation matter?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 455-464, September.
    12. Yeyati, Eduardo Levy & Panizza, Ugo, 2011. "The elusive costs of sovereign defaults," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 95-105, January.
    13. Harrison, Ann, 1996. "Openness and growth: A time-series, cross-country analysis for developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 419-447, March.
    14. David Hummels, 2007. "Transportation Costs and International Trade in the Second Era of Globalization," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 131-154, Summer.
    15. Muhammad Ramzan & Bin Sheng & Muhammad Shahbaz & Jian Song & Zhilun Jiao, 2019. "Impact of trade openness on GDP growth: Does TFP matter?," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(8), pages 960-995, November.
    16. Cermeño, Rodolfo & Grier, Robin & Grier, Kevin, 2010. "Elections, exchange rates and reform in Latin America," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 166-174, July.
    17. Nickell, Stephen J, 1981. "Biases in Dynamic Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1417-1426, November.
    18. Didier, Tatiana & Pinat, Magali, 2013. "How Does Trade Cause Growth?," Conference papers 332421, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    19. Lee, Ha Yan & Ricci, Luca Antonio & Rigobon, Roberto, 2004. "Once again, is openness good for growth?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 451-472, December.
    20. Windmeijer, Frank, 2005. "A finite sample correction for the variance of linear efficient two-step GMM estimators," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(1), pages 25-51, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John Knight & Sai Ding, 2008. "Why has China Grown so Fast? The Role of Structural Change," Economics Series Working Papers 415, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    2. Tarlok Singh, 2010. "Does International Trade Cause Economic Growth? A Survey," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(11), pages 1517-1564, November.
    3. Harrison, Ann E. & Rodriguez-Clare, Andres, 2009. "Trade, Foreign Investment, and Industrial Policy," MPRA Paper 15561, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Harrison, Ann & Rodríguez-Clare, Andrés, 2010. "Trade, Foreign Investment, and Industrial Policy for Developing Countries," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4039-4214, Elsevier.
    5. Gharsallah, Mariem & Trabelsi, Salwa, 2024. "The effect of human capital on the trade-growth nexus: A dynamic panel threshold analysis," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(4).
    6. Andreas Billmeier & Tommaso Nannicini, 2009. "Trade Openness and Growth: Pursuing Empirical Glasnost," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 56(3), pages 447-475, August.
    7. Antonio N. Bojanic, 2012. "The impact of financial development and trade on the economic growth of Bolivia," Journal of Applied Economics, Universidad del CEMA, vol. 15, pages 51-70, May.
    8. Iyke Bernard Njindan, 2017. "Does Trade Openness Matter for Economic Growth in the CEE Countries?," Review of Economic Perspectives, Sciendo, vol. 17(1), pages 3-24, March.
    9. Andrea F Presbitero, 2012. "Total Public Debt and Growth in Developing Countries," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 24(4), pages 606-626, September.
    10. Abo-Zaid Salem M, 2011. "The Trade-Growth Relationship in Israel Revisited: Evidence from Annual Data, 1960-2004," Review of Middle East Economics and Finance, De Gruyter, vol. 6(3), pages 63-93, February.
    11. Tommaso Nannicini & Andreas Billmeier, 2011. "Economies in Transition: How Important Is Trade Openness for Growth?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 73(3), pages 287-314, June.
    12. Sai Ding & John Knight, 2011. "Why has China Grown So Fast? The Role of Physical and Human Capital Formation," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 73(2), pages 141-174, April.
    13. Tiba, Sofien & Frikha, Mohamed, 2019. "The controversy of the resource curse and the environment in the SDGs background: The African context," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 437-452.
    14. Marilyne Huchet†Bourdon & Chantal Le Mouël & Mariana Vijil, 2018. "The relationship between trade openness and economic growth: Some new insights on the openness measurement issue," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1), pages 59-76, January.
    15. Chang, Roberto & Kaltani, Linda & Loayza, Norman V., 2009. "Openness can be good for growth: The role of policy complementarities," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 33-49, September.
    16. Robert Mullings & Aruneema Mahabir, 2016. "Growth by Destination: The Role of Trade in Africa’s Recent Growth Episode," NBS Discussion Papers in Economics 2016/01, Economics, Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University.
    17. Redmond, Trumel & Nasir, Muhammad Ali, 2020. "Role of natural resource abundance, international trade and financial development in the economic development of selected countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    18. Eiji Fujii, 2019. "What Does Trade Openness Measure?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 81(4), pages 868-888, August.
    19. Charles Ackah, & Oliver Morrissey, 2007. "Trade Liberalisation is Good for You if You are Rich," Discussion Papers 07/01, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    20. Bajo-Rubio, Oscar & Ramos-Herrera, María del Carmen, 2024. "Does international trade promote economic growth? Europe, 19th and 20th centuries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 561-575.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10645. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.