Trade and Growth
Achieving economic growth requires countries to reach out to other markets through trade. Yet many developing countries face significant internal and external barriers to trade, and typically have exports that are highly-concentrated in natural resources and low-skill manufacturing products.
IDS research on trade and growth aims to assist developing countries in understanding the impact of trade policy. Our work seeks to understand how to design trade strategies that are more conducive to economic growth and development.
We work on areas including:
- Export diversification – seeking to understand how firms can export a more diverse range of products. Find out more about our work on export diversification.
- Trade preferences – exploring the impact of regional integration and unilateral preferences on developing countries.
- South-South trade – understanding the impact of trade between countries in the global South, and how this can be expanded.
- Regulations, standards and trade – assessing the impact of food safety, plant and animal health and other technical requirements on exports from developing countries.
- Effectiveness of trade-related technical assistance – identifying ways in which the effectiveness of technical assistance, aimed at enhancing the export performance of developing countries, can be improved.
- Food price volatility – exploring how fluctuations in world market food prices are transmitted to local markets in developing countries. Find out more about our work on food price volatility.
Achieving economic growth requires countries to reach out to other markets through trade. Yet many developing countries face significant internal and external barriers to trade, and typically have exports that are highly-concentrated in natural resources and low-skill manufacturing products.
IDS research on trade and growth aims to assist developing countries in understanding the impact of trade policy. Our work seeks to understand how to design trade strategies that are more conducive to economic growth and development.
We work on areas including:
- Export diversification – seeking to understand how firms can export a more diverse range of products.
- Trade preferences – exploring the impact of regional integration and unilateral preferences on developing countries.
- South-South trade – understanding the impact of trade between countries in the global South, and how this can be expanded.
- Regulations, standards and trade – assessing the impact of food safety, plant and animal health and other technical requirements on exports from developing countries.
- Effectiveness of trade-related technical assistance – identifying ways in which the effectiveness of technical assistance, aimed at enhancing the export performance of developing countries, can be improved.
Key contacts
Our work seeks to understand how to design trade strategies that are more conducive to economic growth and development.
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