Several empirical papers have shown that international trade has a positive causal effect on a country's GDP or growth rate. A common conclusion from these results is that a free trade policy will increase a country's GDP. This comment does not dispute the empirical findings per se but questions...

Several empirical papers have shown that international trade has a positive causal effect on a country's GDP or growth rate. A common conclusion from these results is that a free trade policy will increase a country's GDP. This comment does not dispute the empirical findings per se but questions...

Existing literature repeatedly documented a strong correlation between trade and growth. It has also shown a causal effect of imports (though not necessarily exports) on growth in simultaneous equation models but to a lesser extent in Granger-causality tests. Export and import taxes have...

Opening up to trade exposes firms to new competitors. If foreign and domestic firms produce close substitutes, their interaction in the product market forces prices below the monopolistic level. This increased competition induces a shift of demand from monopolistic to oligopolistic varieties and...