Effects of Trade Openness on Economic Growth: The Case of African Countries

The relationship between trade and productivity has not been established theoretically. Some researchers have indeed found some, if not complete, support for the view that increasing openness has a positive impact on productivity. This study used a Cobb-Douglas production function as in Miller and Upadhyay (2000) to estimate the impact of FDI, exchange rate, capital-labor ratio and trade openness on GDP for 38 African countries from 1980 to 2008. Data were transformed to natural logs and estimated using alternative panel models; which included one- or-two-way fixed or random effects models. The results found trade openness having a positive relationship with GDP; which is comparable to findings of Ahmed et al.; (2008).