Trade, Growth, and Poverty: A Selective Survey

By Andrew Berg, Anne O. Krueger. Social Science Research Network, 2003

431 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This survey of the recent literature asks: how important is trade policy for poverty reduction? We consider the effects of openness on poverty in two components: the effect of openness on average income growth, and the effect on distribution for a given growth rate. Evidence from a variety of sources (cross-country and panel growth regressions, industry and firm-level research, and case studies) supports the view that trade openness contributes greatly to growth. Moreover, trade openness does not have systematic effects on the poor beyond its effect on overall growth. Trade policy is only one of many determinants of growth and poverty reduction. Trade openness has important positive spillovers on other aspects of reform, however, so that the correlation of trade with other pro-reform policies speaks to the advantages of making openness a primary part of the reform package.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cad39a27ae095a346da3ec393a9c852127414805

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Economics and Econometrics

Citations in the corpus

The asymmetric effect of trade openness on economic growth in South Africa: a nonlinear ARDL approach (2020, background): “As pointed out by Ngepah (2014) as well as Berg and Krueger (2003), openness to international goods markets * Maxwell Chukwudi Udeagha maxwellu@uj.ac.za; maxwelluc@yahoo.com; citizenmax1982@yahoo.com; maxwelluc1982@gmail.com 1 School of Economics, College of Business and Economics, University…”
Economic globalization, entrepreneurship, and development (2018, background): “This lopsided advantage has now engendered a rapid rise in income inequality in advanced and emerging economies (Berg and Krueger, 2003; De Melo et al., 2008; Pogge, 2007; Sutcliffe, 2007; Thompson, 2007).”
Workers' remittances, economic growth and poverty in developing Asia and the Pacific countries (2007, methodology): “This supports the hypothesis pointed out by Berg and Krueger (2003) that emphasize promoting economic growth and improving human capital development as the key strategy in reducing poverty incidence.”
Inequality, Economic Growth and Poverty in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) (2014, background): “Among the first group of studies or the dominant view today, it is believed that inequality is not a final outcome of growth but plays a central role in determining the rate and pattern of growth (Bourguignon, 2004). Thus, according to the results of Galor and Zeira (1993), Perotti (1993), Persson a”
Trade Openness, Foreign Direct Investment and Child Labor (2004, neutral): “‘‘natural’’ openness and trade policy (Berg & Krueger, 2003, p. 11).”
Trade and economic growth in developing countries: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa (2017, background): “While trade openness facilitates the diffusion of technology and innovations (Krueger and Berg, 2003; Lucas, 1988), technology adoption depends on a country's absorptive capacity, which is determined by human capital and R&D (Verspagen, 1991; Fagerberg, 1994), financial development (Aghion et al.,…”
Does free trade really reduce growth? Further testing using the economic freedom index (2005, background): “See e.g. the survey provided in Berg and Krueger (2003).”
Does Trade Reduce Poverty?: A View from Africa (2014, neutral): “Freer trade provides greater incentives for investment, the benefits of scale and competition, limitation on rent-seeking activities favored by trade restrictions and openness to new ideas and innovations (Krueger and Berg, 2003; Grossman and Helpman, 1991; Lucas, 1988).”