Trade and Domestic Reforms

Summary:

Contribution by Pierre Defraigne to EPC Issue Paper, No. 36, July 2005, (European Policy Centre) on 'Revamping Development Efforts: An assessment of development policy in the EU'

Further information

With respect to trade and development, a few points seem self-evident: the linkage between trade and development is more complex than is commonly agreed amongst columnists and politicians. Secondly, no country, even the largest, has ever developed in autarky, with China providing the best example of what economists have long underlined. Thirdly, over the last half century, world growth has been fuelled by trade liberalisation, which has resulted in the expansion of the share of global output traded on international markets. As world output has increased at an unprecedented pace since World War II, a series of development indicators have shown considerable progress worldwide: life expectancy, literacy, food availability, fertility rate control have all improved.

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