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A study on the belt and road initiative’s trade and its influencing factors: Evidence of China-South Asia’s panel data

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Listed:
  • Ling Zhou
  • Yanghai Mao
  • Qinyi Fu
  • Danlu Xu
  • Jiaqi Zhou
  • Shaolong Zeng

Abstract

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a development plan proposed by China that aims to build a new platform for international cooperation and create new drivers of shared development. South Asia is a key area in the Belt and Road Initiative, including eight countries. As the BRI implemented, China’s trade with South Asia has been gradually strengthened. This paper explores the influencing factors of China-South Asia trade under the background of the BRI by using Gravity Model of Trade. The results show that economic growth in China and South Asia, increase of savings rate and improvement of industrialization in South Asia has a significant positive effect on China-South Asia trade. While the development gap between China and South Asia has negative effect on China-South Asia trade.

Suggested Citation

  • Ling Zhou & Yanghai Mao & Qinyi Fu & Danlu Xu & Jiaqi Zhou & Shaolong Zeng, 2023. "A study on the belt and road initiative’s trade and its influencing factors: Evidence of China-South Asia’s panel data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(4), pages 1-16, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0282167
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282167
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bala Ramasamy & Matthew C. H. Yeung, 2019. "China's one belt one road initiative: The impact of trade facilitation versus physical infrastructure on exports," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(6), pages 1673-1694, June.
    2. HU,Xiaoyu & QI,Chunjie, 2018. "Development of Agricultural Products Trade between China and Four South Asian Countries —— An Empirical Analysis Based on Trade Competitiveness and Complementarity," Asian Agricultural Research, USA-China Science and Culture Media Corporation, vol. 10(11), November.
    3. Rongji Huang & Tengfei Nie & Yangguang Zhu & Shaofu Du, 2020. "Forecasting Trade Potential Between China and the Five Central Asian Countries: Under the Background of Belt and Road Initiative," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 1233-1247, April.
    4. Sandeep Kaur & Sangeeta Khorana & Manpreet Kaur, 2020. "Is There Any Potential in Service Trade of South Asia?," Foreign Trade Review, , vol. 55(3), pages 402-417, August.
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