In this paper we argue that traditional measures of openness of an economy usually overstate the actual degree of openness. This is due to the fact that traditional export or import shares are measured as a share of the gross domestic product. The former are expressed in gross terms, the latter...

This study develops innovative measures of openness towards bilateral trade. The most widely applied openness indices are not able to accurately calculate the degree of trade openness. For example, the intra-regional export ratio which relates the value of exports of an integration area to the...