Financial development and economic growth nexus in the MENA countries: Bootstrap panel granger causality analysis

This paper investigates the direction of causality between financial development and economic growth in the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries. The panel causality testing approach, developed by Kónya (2006) [Kónya, L. (2006), exports and growth: Granger causality analysis on OECD countries with a panel data approach, Economic Modelling, 23, 978–992], based on the Seemingly Unrelated Regressions and Wald tests with the country specific bootstrap critical values, is applied to the panel of fifteen MENA countries for the period 1980–2007. In order to capture the different aspects of financial development, six different indicators are used. Empirical results show that there is no clear consensus on the direction of causality between financial development and economic growth for all measurements of financial development and it is also observed that the findings are country specific.     

Relationship between trade openness and economic growth in Latin America: A causality analysis with heterogeneous panel data

We empirically analyze the causality relationship between economic growth and international trade using new advancements in the econometric methodology for heterogeneous panel data applied to Latin American countries. First, we test for dependencies between the units of cross‐section (countries) and then we test for cointegration between growth and openness. Finally, we test for Granger causality using a heterogeneous panel data test. The results reject the hypothesis of general, unidirectional, and homogeneous relationship between trade openness and economic growth in Latin American countries as a group. However, considering heterogeneity, we found significant evidence of causality from trade liberalization to economic growth in Chile, Peru, Nicaragua, and Uruguay; we have found bidirectional causality in Mexico and Honduras; and a causal relationship from economic growth to trade liberalization in Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic.     

The growth effect of trade openness on African countries: Evidence from using an instrumental variable panel smooth transition model

This paper assesses the relationship between trade openness and economic growth in Africa by accounting for the heterogeneity of African countries. In addition, the paper contributes to the literature on trade openness and economic growth nexus by applying the instrumental variable panel smooth transition regression, a methodology that accounts for nonlinearity and endogeneity in the relationship between the two variables. The results of the empirical analysis reveal that the investment ratio is a channel through which trade openness affects economic growth in the African continent. In addition, the relationship between trade openness and economic growth varies according to the degree of a country's development in Africa. The study finds a negative relationship between openness and growth in low-income countries. Conversely, for upper-income countries, the coefficients of trade indicators are positive and statistically significant. The results indicate that African countries are not homogeneous, especially concerning trade openness and economic growth nexus.     

Financial development and openness: Evidence from panel data

This paper addresses the empirical question of whether trade and financial openness can help explain the recent pace in financial development, as well as its variation across countries in recent years. Utilising annual data from developing and industrialised countries and dynamic panel estimation techniques, we provide evidence which suggests that both types of openness are statistically significant determinants of banking sector development. Our findings reveal that the marginal effects of trade (financial) openness are negatively related to the degree of financial (trade) openness, indicating that relatively closed economies stand to benefit most from opening up their trade and/or capital accounts. Although these economies may be able to accomplish more by taking steps to open both their trade and capital accounts, opening up one without the other could still generate gains in terms of banking sector development. Thus, our findings provide only partial support to the well known Rajan and Zingales hypothesis, which stipulates that both types of openness are necessary for financial development to take place.     

Financial deepening,trade openness and economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean

This contribution investigates the causal interactions between financial deepening, trade openness and economic growth in 13 Latin American and Caribbean countries. We construct a composite indicator for financial deepening and use it to detect Granger causality within a modified Vector Autoregressive/Vector Error Correction Model (VAR/VECM) framework. We find almost no evidence for the popular hypothesis of finance-led growth. Evidence of bidirectional finance–growth causality is stronger but mostly instable in the long run. Most results indicate a demand following or insignificant causal relationship between finance and growth. There is also no evidence that finance indirectly induces growth via the channel of trade openness. Hence, policies that prioritize financial and trade sector development cannot be supported.     

Research output and economic growth in G7 countries: new evidence from asymmetric panel causality testing

Recent studies have shown increasing interest on the relationship between research output and economic growth. The study of such a relationship is not only of theoretical interest, but it can also influence specific policies to improve the quality, and probably the quantity of research output. This article has studied this relationship in G7 countries using the asymmetric panel causality test of Hatemi-J (2011). Our results show that only the UK shows a causal relationship from the output of research to real GDP. However, when the signs of variations are taken into account, there is an asymmetric causality running from negative research output shocks to negative real GDP shocks.     

Correlates of economic growth in developing countries: a panel cointegration approach

The inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) has been found to play a crucial role in the economic growth of receiving countries. Using panel cointegration techniques, this perception was found to be mitigated by an empirical approach that yields different results from previous studies. While the growth in real FDI has an influence on real GDP growth across developing countries in the short-run, year-to-year periods, it does not explain real GDP in the long-run. Rather, it appears to be the economic factors internal to a country that have the most influence on real GDP over time: human capital (measured by literacy rates), export trade, and monetary and fiscal policy.     

Exports and growth: Granger causality analysis on OECD countries with a panel data approach

This paper investigates the possibility of Granger causality between the logarithms of real exports and real GDP in twenty-four OECD countries from 1960 to 1997. A new panel data approach is applied which is based on SUR systems and Wald tests with country specific bootstrap critical values. Two different models are used. A bivariate (GDP–exports) model and a trivariate (GDP–exports–openness) model, both without and with a linear time trend. In each case the analysis focusses on direct, one-period-ahead causality between exports and GDP. The results indicate one-way causality from exports to GDP in Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Sweden, one-way causality from GDP to exports in Austria, France, Greece, Japan, Mexico, Norway and Portugal, two-way causality between exports and growth in Canada, Finland and the Netherlands, while in the case of Australia, Korea, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the UK and the USA there is no evidence of causality in either direction.     

Financial market development and trade openness: evidence from emerging economies

International trade is said to be the engine of economic growth. Despite an enormous effort to explain this phenomenon, the relationship between financial market development and trade openness and integration into the world economy is still an enigma. This article investigates the relationship between financial market development and trade openness. To do this, we develop a long-run and short-run model (a bounds testing approach to cointegration) for 18 emerging economies over the period 1980 to 2011. Estimates from all models show that financial market development, including both the stock market and the banking sector, has significant effect on trade openness in both short-run and long-run phenomena in the majority of countries. Despite many similarities among emerging economies, additional evidence suggests that the link between either stock market development or banking sector development with trade openness works via each country’s specific structure.     

The effect of economic freedom on growth revisited: New evidence on causality from a panel of countries 1970–1999

Does economic freedom cause economic growth or does causality run in the reverse direction? And do all the constituent parts of economic freedom exert a causal impact on economic growth or do some freedoms matter more than others? In order to answer these questions, this paper conducts a series of Granger causality tests using panel data for the period 1970–1999. In addition, the paper discusses a number of model specification issues, e.g. lag-length selection and the importance of intervening variables. The results suggest that some (but not all) aspects economic freedom affect economic growth and investment. On the other hand, there is only weak evidence that growth affects economic freedom.     

Economic growth and financial development in Asian countries: A bootstrap panel Granger causality analysis

This study using Kónya (2006) [Kónya, L. (2006). Exports and growth: Granger causality analysis on OECD countries with a panel data approach. Economic Modelling 23, 978–992.] method of bootstrap panel Granger causality analysis, which considers the issues of cross-sectional dependency and slope heterogeneity among countries investigated simultaneously, analyzes the causality between financial development and economic growth among ten Asian countries surveyed during period 1980 to 2007. We find that the direction of causality between financial development and economic growth is sensitive to the financial development variables used in the ten Asian countries examined in this work. Moreover, our findings support the supply-leading hypothesis, as many financial development variables lead economic growth in some of the ten Asian countries surveyed, especially in China.     

On the impact of trade openness on growth: further evidence from OECD countries

This study attempts to examine empirically the implications of the degree of openness for total and individual factor productivity growth in a group of 19 OECD countries over the last three decades. The study combines both time series and cross-sectional data. The model employed is a generalization of the commonly used, growth-accounting model based on the concept of an aggregate production function in which the rate of economic growth is a function of capital and labour accumulation and total factor productivity. It is explicitly assumed that total factor productivity depends, in turn, upon the rate of export expansion. The model is then estimated using the random coefficients approach. While results generally indicate that the relative importance of trade openness on economic growth varies significantly across countries, they also indicate that the role of capital and labour accumulation in fostering economic growth varies with the degree of openness, cross-sectionally as well as across time.     

Financial development and economic growth in Greece: an empirical investigation with Granger causality analysis

This paper empirically examines the causal relationship between the degree of openness of the economy, financial development and economic growth by using a multivariate autoregressive VAR model in Greece for the examined period 1960:I-2000:IV. The results of cointegration analysis suggest that there is one cointegrated vector among GDP, financial development and the degree of openness of the economy. Granger causality tests based on error correction models show that there is a causal relationship between financial development and economic growth, but also between the degree of openness of the economy and economic growth.     

International trade,economic growth and intellectual property rights: A panel data study of developed and developing countries

This paper examines the role of high-technology trade, IPRs and FDI in determining a country's rate of innovation and economic growth. The empirical analysis is conducted using a unique panel data set of 47 developed and developing countries from 1970 to 1990. The results suggest that: (1) high-technology imports are relevant in explaining domestic innovation both in developed and developing countries; (2) foreign technology has a stronger impact on per capita GDP growth than domestic technology; (3) IPRs affect the innovation rate, but this impact is more significant for developed countries; (4) the results regarding FDI are inconclusive.     

International trade,economic growth and intellectual property rights: A panel data study of developed and developing countries

This paper examines the role of high-technology trade, IPRs and FDI in determining a country's rate of innovation and economic growth. The empirical analysis is conducted using a unique panel data set of 47 developed and developing countries from 1970 to 1990. The results suggest that: (1) high-technology imports are relevant in explaining domestic innovation both in developed and developing countries; (2) foreign technology has a stronger impact on per capita GDP growth than domestic technology; (3) IPRs affect the innovation rate, but this impact is more significant for developed countries; (4) the results regarding FDI are inconclusive.     

Dynamics between energy,output, openness and financial development in sub-Saharan African countries

This study aims to establish the connection between energy use, economic output, financial development and trade, based on the panel data of 15 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries during the period from 1983 to 2010. One full main panel and two subpanels were created by incorporating low-income and middle-income countries. The panel cointegration test results indicate a long-run relationship between the variables. The mean group (MG) estimators show that energy consumption, financial development, capital and international trade have significant impacts on economic output. In the case of middle-income countries, the Granger causality analysis reveals that rising economic output leads to higher energy consumption, but this is not true vice versa. This means that energy conservation measures are unlikely to have adverse impacts upon economic output. On the other hand, there is a complementary relationship between financial development and energy consumption. In this case, energy conservation measures should be critically analysed and implemented, so as not to have an unfavourable impact on financial development. In regard to low-income economies, there is no relationship between energy use and any of the other variables mentioned. Thus, a reduction in energy consumption has little or no significant impact on output, financial development, capital and trade.     

Financial openness and capital mobility: a dynamic panel analysis

Does unrestricted control on the movement of capital increase capital mobility? Theoretically, the answer is yes. This paper uses the Feldstein–Horioka savings–investment methodology to examine the impact of financial openness on the degree of capital mobility in 104 countries. Our estimates suggest that financial openness has increased capital mobility in developing countries, while its effect is statistically insignificant in OECD countries. This also implies that a developing country with more financial openness can have more access to external capital markets for borrowings. Foreign aid also appears to supplement domestic savings for investment in developing countries. In line with the previous findings, our study also confirms that capital is more mobile for developing countries.     

Financial development and economic growth nexus: A more revisionist approach

I provide extensions to Nyasha and Odhiambo regarding models of the finance—growth nexus. These models allow for heterogeneity, as well as mediation versus moderation effects of financial development. The conclusion is that useful models can be very different compared to what has been done in the literature.