R&D, openness, and growth

Abstract

Recent studies have pointed out that trade liberalisation leads to technological spillovers, which, in turn, tend to improve the efficiency of the domestic Research and Development (R&D) sector, and ultimately boost economic growth. In this paper, we theoretically formalize the above mentioned relationship between trade openness and growth via technological and knowledge spill over in the R&D sector. We show that, under certain conditions, an increase in the degree of openness is not only growth enhancing, but also improves the standard of living. The study, thus, prescribe policies of developing and improving the domestic R&D sector in order to reap the full benefits of trade liberalisation.