Analyzing the Impact of Fundamental Factors and Institutional Variables on Exports of Emerging Countries (2000- 2015): Lessons for Iranian Economy

One of the most important factors in achieving sustainable economic growth and development is to increase exports, which is also the main goal of foreign trade policy. In this area, emerging countries have been able to achieve significant success in recent years. Therefore, studying the experiences of these countries can be effective in increasing Iranian exports. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of fundamental factors and institutional variables on exports of a selection of emerging economies during the period 2000-2015 using the panel data econometric method. Our results show that the effects of fundamental factors, namely total factor productivity, human capital and R&D expenditures, on export performance of select emerging countries are positive and significant and the effect of labor cost variable is negative and significant. Also, our results show that, in general, the effect of good governance variables, as an indicator of institutional factors, on exports of emerging countries is positive and significant. These results indicate that reducing production- and risk-costs and strengthening institutional foundations in emerging countries has led to a boost in investment and production arrangements in these countries and ultimately to an increase in exports. Also, our results show that the effect of consumption expenditures on export performance of select emerging countries is negative and significant and the effect of government tax revenues on export performance is a reversed U shape. These results show that based on The experiences of emerging countries, different countries have to pay attention to fundamental factors and institutional variables, in addition to conventional methods such as increasing exchange rates, export awards, etc., and implement reforms that are curb inefficiencies in goods and labor markets.