IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/asieco/v20y2009i3p255-268.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Have Asian trade agreements reduced trade costs?

Author

Listed:
  • Pomfret, Richard
  • Sourdin, Patricia

Abstract

Regionalization of trade in East Asia increased in the 1990s, and has been accompanied by a growing number of trade agreements. The wave of trade agreements is in part a response to the need to facilitate trade in order to make regional value chains more profitable. This paper draws on a rich Australian database for the period 1990-2007, which allows us to control for distance and commodity characteristics and to identify cross-country variation in trade costs. The results, indicating the extent to which East Asian countries' trade costs have fallen over the regionalization period relative to changes in other regions' trade costs, provide evidence of the existence of effective policy steps to facilitate trade and also that these steps have multilateral as well as bilateral or regional benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Pomfret, Richard & Sourdin, Patricia, 2009. "Have Asian trade agreements reduced trade costs?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 255-268, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:20:y:2009:i:3:p:255-268
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1049-0078(09)00009-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David L. Hummels & Georg Schaur, 2013. "Time as a Trade Barrier," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(7), pages 2935-2959, December.
    2. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2004. "Trade Costs," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 691-751, September.
    3. Ng, Francis & Yeats, Alexander, 2003. "Major trade trends in East Asia : what are their implications for regional cooperation and growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3084, The World Bank.
    4. repec:zbw:bofitp:2007_001 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Xing, Yuqing, 2007. "Foreign direct investment and China's bilateral intra-industry trade with Japan and the US," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 685-700, August.
    6. Jeffrey Frankel & Miles Kahler, 1993. "Regionalism and Rivalry: Japan and the United States in Pacific Asia," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number fran93-1, August.
    7. Richard Pomfret & Patricia Sourdin, 2010. "Why do trade costs vary?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 146(4), pages 709-730, December.
    8. Mitsuyo Ando & Fukunari Kimura, 2005. "The Formation of International Production and Distribution Networks in East Asia," NBER Chapters, in: International Trade in East Asia, pages 177-216, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Clark, Ximena & Dollar, David & Micco, Alejandro, 2004. "Port efficiency, maritime transport costs, and bilateral trade," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 417-450, December.
    10. Hummels, David & Lugovskyy, Volodymyr & Skiba, Alexandre, 2009. "The trade reducing effects of market power in international shipping," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 84-97, May.
    11. David Hummels, 2007. "Transportation Costs and International Trade in the Second Era of Globalization," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 131-154, Summer.
    12. Prema‐chandra Athukorala, 2009. "The Rise of China and East Asian Export Performance: Is the Crowding‐Out Fear Warranted?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 234-266, February.
    13. Kimura, Fukunari & Takahashi, Yuya & Hayakawa, Kazunobu, 2007. "Fragmentation and parts and components trade: Comparison between East Asia and Europe," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 23-40, February.
    14. Richard Pomfret, 2007. "Is Regionalism an Increasing Feature of the World Economy?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(6), pages 923-947, June.
    15. Pomfret, Richard, 2005. "Sequencing trade and monetary integration: issues and application to Asia," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 105-124, February.
    16. Jianhong Zhang & Arjen van Witteloostuijn & Chaohong Zhou, 2005. "Chinese Bilateral Intra-Industry Trade: A Panel Data Study for 50 Countries in the 1992–2001 Period," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 141(3), pages 510-540, October.
    17. Haddad, Mona, 2007. "Trade integration in East Asia : the Role of China and production networks," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4160, The World Bank.
    18. David Hummels & Volodymyr Lugovskyy, 2006. "Are Matched Partner Trade Statistics a Usable Measure of Transportation Costs?," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 69-86, February.
    19. Manchin, Miriam & Pelkmans-Balaoing, Annette O., 2008. "Clothes without an Emperor: Analysis of the preferential tariffs in ASEAN," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 213-223, June.
    20. Richard Pomfret, 2005. "Sequencing Trade and Monetary Integration," Others 0502004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Carolyn L. Evans & James Harrigan, 2005. "Distance, Time, and Specialization: Lean Retailing in General Equilibrium," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 292-313, March.
    22. Jeffrey A. Frankel & Miles Kahler, 1993. "Introduction to "Regionalism and Rivalry: Japan and the United States in Pacific Asia"," NBER Chapters, in: Regionalism and Rivalry: Japan and the United States in Pacific Asia, pages 1-18, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Takatoshi Ito & Andrew K. Rose, 2005. "International Trade in East Asia," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number ito_05-1, August.
    24. Ito, Takatoshi & Rose, Andrew K. (ed.), 2005. "International Trade in East Asia," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226378961, December.
    25. Hummels, David, 2001. "Time As A Trade Barrier," Working papers 28701, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    26. Byeong Hae Sohn, 2002. "Regionalization of Trade and Investment in East Asia and Prospects for Further Regional Integration," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 160-181.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Richard Pomfret, 2011. "Regional Integration in East Asia," Chapters, in: Miroslav N. Jovanović (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Integration, Volume I, chapter 16, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Richard Pomfret, 2009. "Regionalism in the Asia-Pacific Region: How Wide, How Deep?," School of Economics and Public Policy Working Papers 2009-31, University of Adelaide, School of Economics and Public Policy.
    3. Bianka Dettmer & Andreas Freytag & Peter Draper, 2013. "Check-in, departure and arrival times: Air cargo in Southern Africa?," Jena Economics Research Papers 2013-018, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    4. Miren Lafourcade & Jacques-François Thisse, 2011. "New Economic Geography: The Role of Transport Costs," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Miren Lafourcade & Jacques-François Thisse, 2008. "New economic geography: A guide to transport analysis," Working Papers halshs-00586878, HAL.
    6. Dettmer, Bianka & Freytag, Andreas & Draper, Peter, 2014. "Air Cargo beyond Trade Barriers in Africa," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 29, pages 95-138.
    7. Lux, Matthias, 2011. "Defying Gravity: The Substitutability of Transportation in International Trade," MPRA Paper 36395, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Feb 2012.
    8. Alberto Behar & Anthony J. Venables, 2011. "Transport Costs and International Trade," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 5, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Patricia Sourdin & Richard Pomfret, 2012. "Trade Facilitation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14596, May.
    10. Thomas Orliac, 2012. "The economics of trade facilitation [L'économie de la facilitation des échanges]," SciencePo Working papers Main tel-03681980, HAL.
    11. Avetisyan, Misak & Hertel, Thomas, 2021. "Impacts of trade facilitation on modal choice and international trade flows," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    12. Richard Pomfret & Richard Pomfret, 2014. "Expanding the Division of Labour: Trade Costs and Supply Chains in the Global Economy," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 54(3), pages 220-241, November.
    13. Murat Genç & David Law, 2014. "A Gravity Model of Barriers to Trade in New Zealand," Treasury Working Paper Series 14/05, New Zealand Treasury.
    14. Laike Yang, 2014. "Production Sharing in East Asia: China’s Position, Trade Pattern and Technology upgrading," Competence Centre on Money, Trade, Finance and Development 1407, Hochschule fuer Technik und Wirtschaft, Berlin.
    15. Richard Pomfret & Patricia Sourdin, 2010. "Why do trade costs vary?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 146(4), pages 709-730, December.
    16. Blyde, Juan & Molina, Danielken, 2015. "Logistic infrastructure and the international location of fragmented production," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 319-332.
    17. Chen, Natalie & Novy, Dennis, 2008. "International Trade Integration: A Disaggregated Approach," CEPR Discussion Papers 7103, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Amador, João & Cabral, Sónia & Ramos Maria, José, 2007. "International Trade Patterns over the Last Four Decades: How does Portugal Compare with other Cohesion Countries?," MPRA Paper 5996, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Coşar, A. Kerem & Demir, Banu, 2018. "Shipping inside the box: Containerization and trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 331-345.
    20. Baldwin, Richard & Venables, Anthony J., 2013. "Spiders and snakes: Offshoring and agglomeration in the global economy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 245-254.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trade facilitation ASEAN;

    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:eee:asieco:v:20:y:2009:i:3:p:255-268. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/asieco .

    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.