Trade policy and growth of developing countries: some new data

Abstract

The present study provides empirical evidence on trade policy and economic growth of developing countries. Our data indicate that adverse changes in world demand carried greater weight in determining export performance than changes in trade policy. The results presented confirm that high growth rates of export earnings occur only when external demand to strong. Low-income countries are shown to fare worse across all time periods, though there are regional variations. These are not due solely to differences in trade policy. Thus, an outward-oriented policy is not necessarily a valid policy recommendation for all conditions and all countries.