Open AccessRole of Trade in Growth and Poverty Reduction: A Review of Literature with Special Reference to India
Author(s) -
H. S. Ram Mohan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
focus : journal of international business
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2395-258X
pISSN - 2347-4459
DOI - 10.17492/focus.v4i02.11692
Subject(s) - poverty , economics , extreme poverty , productivity , development economics , tariff , poverty reduction , relevance (law) , developing country , market access , trade barrier , international economics , international trade , economic growth , political science , geography , agriculture , archaeology , law
The growing volumes of international trade and lowering of tariff barriers have triggered continuing debate and analysis on the impact of international trade on poverty. The United Nations has identified eradication of poverty – especially of extreme poverty – as its number one Millennium Development Goal (MDG). This paper tries to assess the relevance of trade in reducing poverty in India and promoting pro-poor growth through a survey of the existing literature and concludes that a strong performance on the international market can help reduce domestic poverty in developing countries. Through a review of the literature on this topic, the author finds that there is strong empirical evidence in favour of the growth enhancing effects of exports and trade in general. Furthermore, a number of detailed microeconomic studies using firm-level and household data show that exporting can lead to productivity, growth and directly reduce poverty through wage and employment effects.