By James Proudman and Stephen Redding of the Bank’s Structural Economic Analysis Division.
The empirical findings suggest that openness is closely associated with growth in productivity both across countries and across sectors within the United Kingdom. Between 1970 and 1992, some 15% of the initial gap in productivity between the United Kingdom and the United States was closed. Of this, roughly half was attributable to the rise in international openness.
The relationship between openness and growth in the United Kingdom: a summary of the Bank of England Openness and Growth Project