The Effect of the Openness and Free Trade Agreements on Economic Growth

International trade openness and free trade agreement are critical in developing economy because they not only have trade volumes drastically increased, but the economic synergies of two countries are expected to grow rapidly. This study constructs a dynamic panel model and empirically examines the effect of the openness and the free trade agreements on economic growth of countries engaged in the international trade expansion. We find countries' economic environments simultaneously determine economic development and some evidence show that the market openness has strongly positive effects on economic growth but free trade agreements have ambiguous effects on economic growth.