International Congress on Eurasian Economies

International Conference on Eurasian Economies

10-12 July 2017 – Istanbul, TURKEY

Paper detail

Paper ID : 1956
Status : Paper published
Language : English
Topic : Growth and Development
Presenter: Prof. Dr. Özgür Ömer Ersin
Session : 1A Growth & Development

The Effects of Inflation, Openness to Trade and Value Added in Production on Economic Growth in Transition Economies
The Effects of Inflation, Openness to Trade and Value Added in Production on Economic Growth in Transition Economies

Abstract

The study aims to evaluate the economic growth process and the macroeconomic factors, namely, the inflation rates, the value added in the production taken as a proxy of productivity and openness to trade for the selected Eurasian transition economies. The paper focuses on the transition period and the economic performance achieved following the independence of the analyzed countries. By using a sample that consists of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the relationship between economic growth with inflation, trade openness and value added obtained by the national industries are evaluated within a panel setting. The dataset is investigated with traditional and structural break unit root tests followed by panel regression analyses. Considering the findings in the literature which suggest either statistically insignificant or having positive or negative effects of inflation on growth depending on the countries analyzed, the empirical findings of the paper are in favor of negative effects of inflation on growth: though the size of the effect of inflation rates on growth in rather small, negative effect of inflation cannot be rejected. Further, the positive effects of value added in the production which is taken as a proxy to productivity shows significant positive impacts on growth. Similarly, openness to international trade is shown to have positive impacts for the transition countries analyzed. The results are in favor of the findings in literature suggesting that “it is not the inflation rates, rather than the variation in inflation” which could limit economic growth. The findings for openness and value added suggest policies to enhance productivity and international trade to accelerate the economic growth in the transition economies.

JEL codes: P45, O20, C23

Ersin, Özgür Ömer, Bildirici , Melike (2017). "The Effects of Inflation, Openness to Trade and Value Added in Production on Economic Growth in Transition Economies" in Proceedings of International Conference of Eurasian Economies 2017, pp.23-32, Istanbul, TURKEY.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36880/C08.01956

Full paper in PDF format.

Session 1A: Growth & Development

Eurasian Economists Association Istanbul Beykent University Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University TIKA Turkish Central Bank Kavram Vocational High School