Middle income trap and foreign trade relationship: An evaluation on selected countries

"Middle Income Trap", a new concept in economic literature, first came to the fore with the study conducted by Gill and Kharas (2007). It is also expressed as uneven growth, slow growth, stagnation in growth and rapid growth fatigue. Every year, the World Bank publishes the list of countries included in the low, middle and high income groups according to the atlas method. It is easier for countries to transition from low-income to middle-income level than from middle-income to high-income level. For this reason, the middle income trap is one of the common problems of developing countries. In our study, first the conceptual framework of the middle income trap is given and mathematical calculation management is mentioned. In the second part, an answer was sought to the question of whether the relationship between the middle income trap and foreign trade is meaningful. In the third part, the economies of selected countries, China, South Korea, India, Russia and Turkey, are examined in terms of the middle-income trap, and the factors that are effective in staying in the middle-income trap or getting out of the middle-income trap, including the foreign trade statistics of the relevant countries, are compared in line with the data provided by the World Bank. It was analyzed as. When the macroeconomic indicators of selected countries are examined, it is possible to talk about the effect of foreign trade performance on whether a country remains stuck in the middle income trap or reaches the high income group. The findings obtained indicate that there is a positive relationship between foreign trade and economic growth, and that countries aiming to transition from the middle-income trap to the high-income group should give importance to the export of innovative high-tech products with high added value.