An Investigation of the Impact of Non- Oil Exports on Economic Growth- Case of Iran

Growth and economic development are the primary goals of alleconomies and proper trade policy is one of the essential tools to achievethis goal. economic analysts emphasize on promoting non - oil exports asa successful strategy to achieve high economic growth rates. for thisreason, in economic development plans, increasing of exports isemphasized as one of the basic instruments to achieve growth andeconomic development.positive effects of expolis on econonlic growth in developed anddeveloping countries are proved in empirical studies and it is argued thatcountries who have adopted export orientation have enjoyed efficientresource allocation and higher growth.in this research using iranian statistical data for the period 1959-2003and applying a production function model, we try to examine the impact ofnon - oil exports on economic growth.estimating econometric models in the case of iran resulted inconclusions which are rooted in inherent facts of society and econon1y, andreveals considerable facts of iranian economy. results show too weakimpact on gross domestic product growth of non - oil exports and also lowfactor productivity in export sector relative to non - export sector. it seemsthat small share of non oil exports in gdp and inept combination of non oilexports and high portion of traditional and agricultural products in totalexports are the main reasons. high dependency on oil and lack of basic a.ndreasonable planning toward non - oil exports promotion is among the otherproblems that non - oil export sector is facing.keywords: econotnic growth, inlport substitution strategy, exportpromotion strategy, non- oil exports, productivity, externlalities.