The Effect of Information and Communication Technology on Trade Liberalization in the Selected Developing and Developed Countries

Trade liberalization in developing countries can help with optimal allocation of resources, increasing returns to scale, transfer of knowledge and technology, and can facilitate the imports of intermediate and capital goods, which will lead to increased economic growth. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the factors that affect trade openness in developing countries. In this regard, the present study tries to determine the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development indicators on trade liberalization in two groups of selected countries of Asian developing member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and EuropeanDeveloped members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development during the period 2009-2017. For this purpose, the research model was estimated using panel data and the generalized method of moments. The results showed that the impact of access, use and skills of using ICT on the trade liberalization in both groups of selected countries is positive and meaningful. Also, accordings to the results, in both groups the effect of controlling variables including political globalization and innovation on the trade liberalization  is positive and meaningful and the effect of real exchange rate on is negative and meaningful.