An Analysis of the Impact of Trade Liberalization on Economic Growth in Islamic Countries

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Abstract

During recent years, a debate has been taking place on the relationship between economic growth and trade policies. The present article explores the impact of trade liberalization on economic growth in Islamic countries. We chose a sample of 26 Islamic countries and using the GMM method, estimated the correlation between trade liberalization and economic growth for the period 1990-2003.
The empirical results of our study indicate that trade liberalization has positively affected economic growth. All the variables covered are statistically significant. The findings confirm that the growth rate of gross capital formation, literacy rate and total magnitude of trade have positive effect and the population growth rate has a negative effect on economic growth. From the above, we can conclude that all Muslim countries would gain in terms of economic growth by joining WTO and liberalizing their trade regimes, to take advantage of an increasingly globalized World.
JEL Classification: F1, O41

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