Openness of small transitional economies

Abstract

The relationship between openness to trade and economic growth and development is highly debatable subject amongst economists with still inconclusive answer. The subject of this paper is an analysis of the relation between openness to foreign trade flows and economic development on a sample of 23 small and transitional economies. The aim of the research is to conclude what kind of relationship between these two variables exists, and to investigate whether there is a difference between export and import and their individual relation with economic development. After the introduction, the second section provides a brief overview of the literature on the similar topic. The third section gives an explanation of research methodology, sampling methods and methods of measuring of analyzed variables. The fourth section refers to the quantitative results of the research and discussion while the fifth part is dedicated to the main conclusions of an analysis.

Keywords

• openness to trade
• export
• import
• economic development
• small economies