IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ris/integr/022351.html

The Impact of Economic Freedom, Innovation, and Exports on Growth: An Empirical Study on Emerging Economies

Author

Listed:
  • Doğan Fırat Cem

    (University,Gaziantep)

Abstract

Sustainable economic growth in emerging economies is essential for achieving long-term development and global competitiveness. Yet, these economies often face structural barriers arising from institutional weaknesses, limited innovation capacity, and external sector vulnerabilities. This study aims to provide a comprehensive empirical assessment of how economic freedom, innovation capacity, exports, R&D expenditures, and patent applications influence economic growth in 17 emerging economies between 2005 and 2024. The analysis is grounded in institutional theory, endogenous growth models, and the export-led growth hypothesis, which jointly explain how institutions, technology, and openness shape growth dynamics. Using panel data techniques Dynamic OLS (DOLS) and Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) the study estimates long-run cointegration relationships while addressing endogeneity, serial correlation, and potential unbalanced panel issues. The results reveal that economic freedom, innovation, and exports are the most significant drivers of sustainable growth, enhancing market efficiency, productivity, and global integration. R&D expenditures contribute positively but heterogeneously across countries, whereas patent applications have a weaker yet positive effect. A robustness test based on a balanced sub-panel (2008-2022) confirms the stability of the results. These findings emphasize that institutional reforms enhancing economic freedom, policies promoting innovation and R&D productivity, and strategies deepening trade openness are essential for sustaining long-term economic growth. Strengthening intellectual property rights and fostering innovation ecosystems are equally critical to converting technological progress into tangible economic outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Doğan Fırat Cem, 2026. "The Impact of Economic Freedom, Innovation, and Exports on Growth: An Empirical Study on Emerging Economies," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 41(1), pages 115-135, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:integr:022351
    DOI: 10.11130/jei.2025022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.e-jei.org/upload/jei-2025022.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.11130/jei.2025022?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies
    • P52 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Studies of Particular Economies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ris:integr:022351. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: JEI (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/desejkr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.