Explaining MERCOSUR sectoral exports to the EU: The role of economic and geographical distance
Abstract
We used a variant of the gravity equation to classify products according to their sensitivity to geographical and economic distance. We argue that products which are highly sensitive to economic distance (proxied with absolute differences in per capita income) and barely sensitive to geographical distance are the best candidates for future trade between the European Union and Mercosur. We estimated our empirical model by applying panel data methodology to allow for trading pair specific effects. In the estimation we made use of two additional explanatory variables which are found to be relevant when explaining trade, namely, infrastructure and exchange rates. Our results support the view that different products have a different sensitivity to distance and highlight the importance of using disaggregated data when analysing international trade flows.Download Info
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.Bibliographic Info
Paper provided by EconWPA in its series International Trade with number 0309025.Length: 25 pages
Date of creation: 29 Sep 2003
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpit:0309025
Note: Type of Document - Acrobat PDF; pages: 25 ; figures: none
Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://128.118.178.162
Related research
Keywords: gravity model; panel data; sectoral trade flows; distance;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-EEC-2003-10-05 (European Economics)
- NEP-GEO-2003-10-05 (Economic Geography)
- NEP-IFN-2003-10-05 (International Finance)
- NEP-LAM-2003-10-05 (Central & South America)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Diao, Xinshen & Somwaru, Agapi, 2000. "An Inquiry on General Equilibrium Effects of MERCOSUR--An Intertemporal World Model," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 557-588, September.
- James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2003.
"Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle,"
American Economic Review,
American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 170-192, March.
- James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2001. "Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 8079, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2000. "Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 485, Boston College Department of Economics.
- Bergstrand, Jeffrey H, 1985. "The Gravity Equation in International Trade: Some Microeconomic Foundations and Empirical Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(3), pages 474-81, August.
- Egger, Peter, 2000.
"A note on the proper econometric specification of the gravity equation,"
Economics Letters,
Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 25-31, January.
- Peter Egger, . "A Note on the Proper Econometric Specification of the Gravity Equation," WIFO Working Papers 108, WIFO.
- I-Hui Cheng & Howard J. Wall, 2005.
"Controlling for heterogeneity in gravity models of trade and integration,"
Review,
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Jan, pages 49-63.
- I-Hui Cheng & Howard J. Wall, 2004. "Controlling for heterogeneity in gravity models of trade and integration," Working Papers 1999-010, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
- Alan V. Deardorff, 1995.
"Determinants of Bilateral Trade: Does Gravity Work in a Neoclassical World?,"
NBER Working Papers
5377, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Alan Deardorff, 1998. "Determinants of Bilateral Trade: Does Gravity Work in a Neoclassical World?," NBER Chapters, in: The Regionalization of the World Economy, pages 7-32 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Deardorff, A.V., 1995. "Determinants of Bilateral Trade : Does Gravity Work in a Neoclassical World?," Papers 95-05, Michigan - Center for Research on Economic & Social Theory.
- Anderson, James E, 1979. "A Theoretical Foundation for the Gravity Equation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(1), pages 106-16, March.
- Limao, Nuno & Venables, Anthony J., 1999. "Infrastructure, geographical disadvantage, and transport costs," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2257, The World Bank.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Felicitas Nowak-Lehmann D. & Inmaculada Martínez Zarzoso, 2003.
"Would MERCOSUR’s Exports to the EU Profit from Trade Liberalisation? Some General Insights and a Simulation Study for Argentina,"
Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers
092, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
- Felicitas Nowak-Lehmann D. & Inmaculada Martínez- Zarzoso, 2004. "Would MERCOSUR´s Exports to the EU Profit from Trade Liberalisation? Some General Insights and a Simulation Study for Argentina," International Trade 0401002, EconWPA.
- Felicitas Nowak-Lehmann & Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso, 2003. "MERCOSUR-EU trade: The impact of adverse macroeconomic developments and trade barriers on MERCOSUR exports," International Trade 0310002, EconWPA.
- Rojas, Gina E. Acosta & Calfat, Germán & Flôres Junior, Renato Galvão, 2005. "Trade and Infrastructure: evidences from the Andean Community," Economics Working Papers (Ensaios Economicos da EPGE) 580, Graduate School of Economics, Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil).
- María Luisa Recalde & Luis Marcelo Florensa & Iván Iturralde, 2008. "Gravity Equation and Trade Agreements: A Different Econometric Approach," Revista de Economía y Estadística, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Instituto de Economía y Finanzas, vol. 0(2), pages 83-104, July.
Lists
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.Statistics
Access and download statisticsCorrections
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpit:0309025For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (EconWPA).
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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

