Trade, Investment, and Growth: Nexus, Analysis, and Prognosis

38 Pages Posted: 11 Jun 2000 Last revised: 2 Oct 2022

See all articles by Kala Krishna

Kala Krishna

Pennsylvania State University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Norman R. Swanson

Rutgers University - Department of Economics; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - Department of Economics

Ataman Ozyildirim

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Multiple version iconThere are 4 versions of this paper

Date Written: December 1998

Abstract

This paper looks at the patterns of causation between income, export, import, and investment growth for 25 developing countries. Our approach differs from previous efforts in a number of ways. First, we examine each country individually in order to allow for complete heterogeneity and properly account for the stochastic trending properties of the data. Second, we apply novel model selection techniques which are based on in-sample goodness-of-fit criteria and ex-ante predictive ability criteria to identify the best model for each country. Finally, we propose a rather novel device based on simple contingency tables which allows us to assess whether our models are capable of accurately predicting turning points in GDP growth. We find that countries with high trade exposure fare poorly in this dimension and posit that the GDP growth in such countries is best modeled using an index of global business cycle conditions, in addition to the above variables. Overall, we find that in around two thirds of the countries examined, growth is best explained by exports and/or imports. Further, and in contrast to previous findings of bi-directional causality, around 70% of the countries exhibit uni-directional causality.

Suggested Citation

Krishna, Kala and Swanson, Norman Rasmus and Swanson, Norman Rasmus and Ozyildirim, Ataman, Trade, Investment, and Growth: Nexus, Analysis, and Prognosis (December 1998). NBER Working Paper No. w6861, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=227617

Kala Krishna (Contact Author)

Pennsylvania State University - Department of Economics ( email )

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Norman Rasmus Swanson

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - Department of Economics ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://econweb.rutgers.edu/nswanson/

Rutgers University - Department of Economics ( email )

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United States

HOME PAGE: http://econweb.rutgers.edu/nswanson/

Ataman Ozyildirim

affiliation not provided to SSRN