Openness, Growth, and Development: Evidence from a Panel of East Asian Countries

This paper examines the interaction between openness, growth, and development using a panel of ten developing East Asian countries (China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao and Vietnam) and five-year averages for the period, 1975-2005. Its primary objective is to determine whether there is a direct link between the level of development and openness, while controlling for the indirect effect of openness through its impact on economic growth. Using a two-equation simultaneous-equations model of development and growth and an alternative measure of openness, our findings suggest that openness has a positive influence on both economic growth and human development. We also find that while economic growth makes a positive contribution to development, the converse is not true in that the more developed a nation the slower its growth rate.