This study investigates the effect of openess on economic growth for rapidly growing economies in East Asia in which rapid growth has been accompanied by a persistent openess to world trade. The framework of analysis is a five-variable vector auto-regressive model that consists of real output,...

New growth theories suggest that an economy's increased openness raises domestic productivity, and hence must have a positive effect on the living standards of a nation. The North Korean economy, isolated from world trade for several decades and its economy devastated, provides a test for this...