The relationship between trade openness and economic growth: Some new insights on the openness measurement issue

Empirical results on the links between trade openness and economic growth often suggest that, in the long run, more outward‐oriented countries register better economic growth. However, a similar level of trade openness can hide different types of trade structures. The aim of this paper was to enrich the way of measuring trade openness taking into account two different dimensions of countries’ integration in world trade: export quality and export variety. Based on the estimation of an endogenous growth model on a panel of 169 countries between 1988 and 2014 using a generalised method of moments estimator, our results confirm that countries exporting higher quality products and new varieties grow more rapidly. More importantly, we find a non‐linear pattern between the export ratio and the quality of the export basket, suggesting that openness to trade may impact growth negatively for countries which are specialised in low‐quality products. A non‐linear relationship between export variety, the export ratio and growth is also found, suggesting that countries increasing their exports will grow more rapidly after reaching a certain degree of the extensive margin of exports.     

Trade openness and financial development in sub-Saharan Africa: The role of institutional structures

This article examines the role of institutional structures in the relationship between trade openness and financial development in sub-Saharan economies. The study is based on empirical data from sampled sub-Saharan African countries for a period of 1996–2017. The system generalized method of moment was employed to estimate the models. The findings suggest that, even though trade openness has a positive significant influence on the level of financial development in sub-Saharan African economies, this relationship is enhanced through the presence of good institutions in these economies. Thus, for these economies to realize the full benefit of the effect of trade openness on financial development, they need to strengthen their institutions.     

转变外经贸增长方式 促进黑龙江省外经贸可持续发展

党的十六届五中全会通过的“十一五”计划中提出,要落实科学发展观,重视并大力转变经济增长方式,提高资源利用效率,以促进经济的可持续发展。因此,优化外经贸结构,转变外经贸增长方式,已成为促进黑龙江省外经贸可持续发展的必要条件。     

Trade openness,foreign direct investment,and finance-growth nexus in the Eurozone countries

The paper investigates causal relationships between trade openness, foreign direct investment, financial development, and economic growth in 19 Eurozone countries over the period 1988–2013. Using a panel vector error-correction model (VECM), the empirical results show that these variables are cointegrated. The study shows that a combination of opening the Eurozone countries for trade and fostering their financial and economic development have elevated inflows of foreign direct investment into the region in the long run. At the same time, increasing inflows of foreign direct investment in the short run have propelled economic growth, which in return has strengthened the role of financial development and international trade to sustain economic growth in the region through feedback effects. The empirical results have important policy implications for countries in the Eurozone, especially those who face challenges as a result of lack of confidence in their financial system and those who face a sovereign debt crisis.     

Linkage between international trade and economic growth in GCC countries: Empirical evidence from PMG estimation approach

This paper explores the empirical evidence of the links between economic growth and openness to international trade by controlling for auxiliary variables in the model for the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries over the annual sample period 1980–2010. After testing for cointegration based on a recent bootstrap panel test, we employ the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimation technique of M.H. Pesaran, Y. Shin, and R. Smith (1999. “Pooled Mean Group Estimation of Dynamic Heterogeneous Panels”. Journal of the American Statistical Association 94: 621–634) that is appropriate for drawing sharper conclusions in dynamic heterogeneous panels by considering long-run equilibrium relations. The results show evidence of cointegration relationship between the variables of interest, and reveal that economic growth responds positively to trade openness over both the short run and long run. The evidence is robust to using various trade openness measures and to alternative model specifications, suggesting thus the non-fragility of the linkage between economic growth and openness to international trade for the GCC region. Our findings are then promising and support the view that economic growth is directly and robustly linked to trade openness for the GCC countries.     

The impact of banks and non-bank financial institutions on economic growth

Empirical studies examining the relationship between financial sector development and economic growth without including non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) will likely generate biased empirical results. This study provides evidence that NBFIs can have a statistically significant negative impact on economic growth using cross-country data for both emerging and advanced countries. This finding suggests that these non-bank institutions, often loosely regulated, may introduce an excessive level of risk into the financial sector and the general economy. It is consistent with the current global financial crises where NBFIs, such as investment banks and insurance companies, introduced an excessive level of risk into the global economy. Hence, policy-makers may need to consider more timely and effective regulation of NBFIs and insure that adequate transparency and disclosure is provided to all financial markets participants.     

The interest group theory of financial development in China: Openness and the role of interest groups

The interest group theory of financial development predicts that the incumbents' opposition to financial development will be weaker when an economy is open to both trade and capital flows. Based on regressions of financial development on trade and financial openness, existing studies only provide indirect tests of the hypothesis and deliver mixed findings. This paper proposes models for direct tests of interest group theory for China. Using Chinese cross-province data, we define and measure interest groups based on the close tie between state-owned enterprises and local government in China. The empirical results show that the opposition from interest groups to financial development cannot be weakened in provinces with high trade or financial openness alone. However, the opposition is indeed weakened in provinces with high levels of both trade and financial openness. These results provide robust support for interest group theory in accounting for cross-province differences and time-series variation in financial development in China.     

The interplay of international trade,economic growth and income convergence: a brief intellectual history of recent developments

The literature on the interplay of international trade, economic growth, and income convergence across economies has proliferated in the past few decades. The present essay reviews the theoretical advancements and empirical findings in this literature. The focus will be on recent developments with a few glances at the past. The essay also describes new findings and insights into the role of international trade in global income distribution. Ideas for further research are offered throughout the essay.     

The effects of trade agreements on the growth of major Latin American economies

While the connection between trade openness and economic growth is generally assumed to be positive, empirically, it is not clearly demonstrable. Examinations of the relationship between trade and growth have taken a number of approaches, differing both in the empirical methods, as well as the proxies employed for trade openness, trade liberalization, and growth, but results have been decidedly mixed. Our research differs from prior studies in that it does not examine whether trade policy, trade liberalization or the level of trade itself enhances GDP; but rather whether participating in a specific type of trade agreement/union and/or the number of trade agreements to which a given country or region belongs enhances a country's level of growth. For this purpose, we study the relationship between trade agreements and growth for 18 Latin American countries between 1960 and 2008. Empirical analysis uses an adaptation of the neoclassical Solow growth model. Even though supporters of globalization advance the notion that involvement in trade agreements will help a country's economy, our findings suggest that that may not be consistently so.     

The gravity of financial development

The article empirically tests the link between financial constraints with the extensive (proportion of exporters) and the intensive (volume of exports) margins of international trade. The main contribution is the macroeconomic analysis of this relationship – i.e. the investigation of the effect of finance on trade of all economic sectors combined – which is further reaching than the manufactured-sector-based focus found in the current literature. The study is developed on the basis of a bilateral trade database on 104 countries between 1998 and 2007. The empirical section estimates a two-stage gravity equation using panel data and shows a positive impact of financial development on the marginal variation of the extensive margin. However, the estimate of the relationship between finance and the intensive margin shows an unexpected result. It finds inconsistent results demonstrating a relationship that is negative, positive or statistically null.     

金融创新视域下农产品贸易的发展格局与高质量发展对策研究

中国作为农业大国,在农产品贸易方面取得了一定的发展,现已成为世界农业贸易大国。中国农产品贸易极大缓解了国内农产品剩余压力,增加了国内农民的经济收入,促进了中国农村地区的建设和发展。但是在整个发展过程中,仍然存在金融支持力度不够、金融创新不足等问题,这些问题严重制约了中国农产品贸易的发展。从金融创新视域入手,分析了中国农产品贸易的发展格局,研究了当前中国农产品贸易存在的问题,最后提出针对性对策,以期在一定程度上帮助提高中国农产品贸易金融创新力度,促进中国农产品贸易的健康发展。     

黑龙江省对外贸易对经济增长的拉动效应分析

本文运用SAS统计软件对黑龙江省对外贸易与经济增长关系进行回归分析。可以看出,对外贸易促进了黑龙江省经济发展,但与全国平均水平相比还有很大的差距。因此,黑龙江省应根据现实情况,充分利用自身优势大力发展对外贸易,在东北振兴中实现经济的跨越式、可持续发展。     

Robustness of the KOF index of economic globalisation

The KOF indices of globalisation are the most used globalisation measures in international economics literature, but it uses the nominal trade openness measure to construct the globalisation index. In this paper, we use real trade openness instead of nominal trade openness and recalculate the KOF economic globalisation index over the period 1970–2013. Using the panel data regressions for 146 countries, we revisit the economic globalisation–economic growth nexus to investigate the robustness of the KOF economic globalisation index. We consider several possibilities in model specifications, and the results show that using nominal trade openness measure in calculating the KOF globalisation index is statistically robust. In addition, the KOF economic globalisation index in logarithmic form introduces a more robust outlook in the panel data regressions—a lower bias is emerged by considering different trade openness measures to calculate the globalisation level.     

Interactions between tourism and financial sector development: evidence from Turkey

This article aims to examine the interactions between tourism growth and financial development in Turkey, which is a top tourist destination and has developed a well-functioning financial system over the last decade. The results confirm a long-term association between tourism development and financial development; foreign direct investments and foreign trade also impact this interaction. According to the results, tourism expansion in Turkey is mainly influenced by financial markets. The results also reveal that in Turkey, changes in tourism volume precede changes in financial volume. Thus, the major finding of this study is that tourism development and financial development in Turkey have a long-term and reinforcing interaction.     

Economic growth,financial market,and twin crises

In this study, we look not only to provide empirical evidence to investigate the direct impact of financial crises on economic growth, but also to examine the roles of insurance development, financial liberalization, financial institution, and crisis intervention policies on the relationship between the two. We employ a panel data framework from 50 countries by applying the dynamic panel generalized method of moments model. Our main empirical results show that financial crises do have a significantly negative impact on economic growth. In addition, governments or authorities are encouraged to further enhance their insurance sector in order to help spur economic growth when financial crises arise. The government intervention policy choice is also an important factor influencing economic growth during crises.     

Thresholds of financial development in the Euro area

We analyse the dynamics of financial development and economic growth in the Euro area as these countries went through considerably higher levels of financial development. Using a balanced panel data of 38 years from 1980 to 2018, we offer new evidence on the finance–growth nexus. We show the presence of non-linearity as there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between finance and growth in the long run. Estimating the thresholds in the finance–growth nexus, we notice a threshold effect at 74%–86% of GDP for domestic credit; 51% of GDP for stock turnover ratio; and 65% of GDP for stock market capitalisation. We notice that exceeding the threshold causes deceleration in economic growth as too much finance results in crowding out effect for productive economic activities. The panel Granger causality test results show that financial development should be associated with optimal growth performance. These findings in the Euro area provide some useful policy implications to the emerging and developing economies in designing their financial development strategies.     

北部湾经济区经济增长的财政支持研究

本文利用北部湾经济区"4+2"城市和地区的人均一般预算支出与人均生产总值的相关数据,实证研究了北部湾经济区财政支出与经济增长之间的关系。研究表明,财政支出与经济增长二者之间存在协整关系,财政支出是经济增长的推动因素,财政支出促进经济增长,但对经济增长的作用相对较小。由于北部湾经济区现存问题依然较多,因而需要通过各种途径来弥补财政收支缺口;谨防财政收支缺口引起的财政风险,加强研究财政收支缺口的力度;进一步优化财政支出结构;将财政支持更多地转向提高科技创新能力。     

The impact of trade openness on the unemployment rate in G7 countries

Recent and ongoing literature strongly implies the existence of a significant and robust impact of trade openness (liberalisation) and globalisation on unemployment, particularly in developed economies. This paper empirically investigates the impacts of four different measures of trade openness and globalisation on the unemployment rate in an unbalanced panel framework. The analysis focuses on the G7 countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US). Robust empirical findings from panel data estimates demonstrate that, along with macroeconomic indicators and market size, all the measures of trade openness and globalisation are significantly and negatively associated with the unemployment rate. Therefore, we conclude that the continuation of the globalisation process instead of protectionism is of great importance in reducing the unemployment rate in developed economies.     

Gender differences in recollections of economic socialization,financial self-efficacy,and financial literacy

The OECD/INFE international surveys of adult financial literacy (OECD/INFE 2016, 2020) show gender differences in financial literacy in developed countries in Europe. In this study, we examine whether these differences can be explained by gender differences in parental economic socialization using the Dutch 2018 DHS household survey. We investigate whether respondents' recollection of economic socialization when young predict their adult economic behavior and self-assessed financial knowledge. The results from ordinal logit and logistic regressions and for nonlinear equations decompositions reveal gender differences in the recollection of economic socialization and in how socialization practices are related to economic behavior and self-assessed financial knowledge. Men have to a greater degree than women been socialized in terms of having paid work outside the home, while women more often than men report that their parents controlled their spending. Moreover, we find gender differences in how men and women benefitted from the same socialization practices.     

进口贸易促进广东省经济增长的实证分析——基于需求结构的分析

运用国民收入恒等式建立一个包括投资、消费、进出口方程的联立方程组模型,系统地对广东省进口和经济增长之间的关系做了分析,结果表明进口通过与投资、消费、投资领域的互动效应引致经济增长。