Economies in Transition: How Important Is Trade Openness for Growth?

• Autores: Tommaso Nannicini, Andreas Billmeier
• Localización: Oxford bulletin of economics and statistics, ISSN 0305-9049, Vol. 73, Nº. 3, 2011, págs. 287-314
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • We investigate the effect of trade openness on economic growth in transition countries using a transparent statistical methodology that leads to data-driven case studies. In particular, we employ synthetic control methods in a panel of transition economies and compare GDP growth in treated (that is, open) countries with growth in a convex combination of similar but untreated (that is, closed) countries. We find that trade liberalization tends to have a positive effect on the pattern of real GDP per capita. One of our most robust results shows that making the transition without opening up to trade considerably hampers growth.