Export-total factor productivity growth nexus in East Asian economies

Despite increasing interest in the relationship between trade and macro-economic performance in development economics, very limited studies have been conducted on the causal links between exports and productivity growth in Asian economies. This article examines empirically the interplay between exports and productivity growth for eight East Asian economies in a multivariate framework by applying bound tests and modified Wald tests. The results indicate that causality is bidirectional in the case of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, while unidirectional from productivity to exports for Mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. These findings provide little support for the conventional export-led growth hypothesis.