International trade and industrialization in a non-scale model of economic growth

The relationship between international trade, growth, and industrialization is analyzed in a two-sector non-scale growth model. The counterfactual prediction of new growth theories regarding a positive effect of population growth on per capita income growth is shown to be alleviated by allowing for international trade. While the growth-trade linkage is positive in most cases, it is negative if the rate of population growth is relatively large and the initial capital stock is relatively small. As the timing of the switch from autarky to free trade affects the process of industrialization, trade policy can influence structural change and long-run growth rates even in non-scale growth models.