Trade

Many observers agree that engagement with the world economy is essential for sustained increases in living standards. “A flourishing export sector is a critical ingredient of high growth, especially in the early stages,” writes the Commission on Growth and Development in its influential 2008 report. But the precise mechanisms through which trade affects key aspects of the growth process – learning, innovation, and productivity growth more generally – remain controversial and, arguably, poorly understood. The main goal of the IGC trade program is to better understand the myriad relationships between international integration and learning and innovation, in order to inform policies to help developing countries derive maximum benefit from engagement with the world economy.