AN ANALYSIS FOR THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRADE OPENNESS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: EVIDENCE FOR TEN AFRICAN COUNTRIES

The empirical results for the relationship between trade openness and economic growth have long been a debatable matter in international economics literature. To re-investigate the relationship; firstly, we analyzed the homogeneity and cross-sectional dependency tests of the variables to determine appropriate unit roots and cointegration tests. We use data set includes 10 Africa countries for the period of 1990-2015. We employ pool mean group estimator (PMG) under the panel Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model framework. This study complements existing literature by examining the relation between economic growth and trade openness using a panel ARDL approach for Africa countries. The results of PMG model suggest that an increase in trade openness has positive impact on economic growth in the long run. The evidence of a long-run relationship between the variables implies the validity of the long-run openness-led growth hypothesis in selected countries.