The effect of terms of trade on economic growth in Maghreb countries: Harberger-Laursen- Metzler effect for the period 1990-2017

Abstract

This study investigates the direct impact of terms of trade on economic growth in Maghreb countries from 1990 to 2017, so as to be able to test the Harberger-Laursen-Metzler effect, using various econometric techniques for panel data analysis as the modern unit root test PSCADF (2006), the Pedroni and Kao tests for co-integration in addition to Westerlund (2007, 2008) test with bootstrap technique, and finally the Dumitrescu-Hurlin (2012) non-causality test, the results shows that there is no evidence of any co-integration relationship between the variables, and there is a small effect from the TOT index to economic growth whereas any increase in the TOT index by 10% causes an increase in GDP by 0.217%, the results also shows that there is no evidence of any causality from terms of trade to economic growth in contrast of a uni-directional causality running from terms of trade to trade openness, and for the Harberger-Laursen-Metzler effect (HLM effect) the results reveal a weak effect with economic growth and trade openness in Maghreb countries.