IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/jafrec/v21y2012i2p228-265.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic Integration and the Two Margins of Trade: The Impact of the Barcelona Process on North African Countries' Exports

Author

Listed:
  • Sami Bensassi
  • Laura Márquez-Ramos
  • Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso

Abstract

According to recently developed models of trade based on imperfect competition and heterogeneous firms, lower trade costs increase bilateral trade, not only through a rise in the mean value of individual shipments (the intensive margin of trade), but also through an increase in the number of exporting firms (the extensive margin of trade). The main aim of this paper is to provide new empirical evidence on the effects of the Euro-Mediterranean (EuroMed) agreements on both margins of trade. Using highly disaggregated export data for four North African countries (Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia) over the 1995–2008 period, we estimate the impact of the EuroMed agreements on both trade margins, thus providing empirical evidence about the validity of theoretical predictions. Our results show that North African countries enjoyed significant positive returns from the Barcelona Process, through increased exports of manufactured products to the four most populated continental countries in the European Union. Copyright 2012 , Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Sami Bensassi & Laura Márquez-Ramos & Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso, 2012. "Economic Integration and the Two Margins of Trade: The Impact of the Barcelona Process on North African Countries' Exports," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 21(2), pages 228-265, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:21:y:2012:i:2:p:228-265
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jae/ejr038
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

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

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Denise KONAN & Bernard HOEKMAN, 2001. "Deepening Egypt-US Trade Integration: Economic Implications of Alternative Options," Middle East and North Africa 330400039, EcoMod.
    2. Inmaculada Martinez-Zarzoso & Celestino Suarez-Burguet, 2005. "Transport costs and trade: Empirical evidence for Latin American imports from the European union," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 353-371.
    3. Hoekman, Bernard & Konan, Denise, 1999. "Deep Integration, Non-Discrimination and Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade," CEPR Discussion Papers 2095, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Soloaga, Isidro & Alan Wintersb, L., 2001. "Regionalism in the nineties: what effect on trade?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 1-29, March.
    5. David Hummels & Alexandre Skiba, 2004. "Shipping the Good Apples Out? An Empirical Confirmation of the Alchian-Allen Conjecture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1384-1402, December.
    6. Thierry Mayer & Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano, 2008. "The Happy Few: New Facts on the Internationalization of European Firms Based on Firm-level Evidence," L'industria, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 221-244.
    7. Magee, Christopher S.P., 2008. "New measures of trade creation and trade diversion," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 349-362, July.
    8. World Bank, 2008. "World Development Indicators 2008," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 11855.
    9. Gordon Wilmsmeier & Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso, 2009. "Determinants of maritime transport costs -- a panel data analysis for Latin American trade," Transportation Planning and Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 105-121, October.
    10. Katerina Gradeva & Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso, 2009. "Trade as Aid: The Role of the EBA-Trade Preferences Regime in the Development Strategy," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 197, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    11. Martínez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada & Felicitas, Nowak-Lehmann D. & Horsewood, Nicholas, 2009. "Are regional trading agreements beneficial?: Static and dynamic panel gravity models," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 46-65, March.
    12. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    13. Hillberry, Russell & Hummels, David, 2008. "Trade responses to geographic frictions: A decomposition using micro-data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 527-550, April.
    14. Persson, Maria & Wilhelmsson, Fredrik, 2006. "Assessing the Effects of EU Trade Preferences for Developing Countries," Working Papers 2006:4, Lund University, Department of Economics, revised 26 Jun 2006.
    15. World Bank, 2008. "World Development Indicators 2008," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 28241.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adriana Cardozo & Inmaculada Martínez‐Zarzoso & Paula L. Vogler, 2022. "The impact of free trade agreements on Middle East and North Africa exports of intermediate and final goods," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(5), pages 1501-1527, May.
    2. Luis Marcelo Florensa & Laura Márquez-Ramos & María Luisa Recalde & María Victoria Barone, 2014. "Does economic integration increase trade margins? Empirical evidence from LAIAs countries," Working Papers 2014/05, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    3. Laura Marquez-Ramos, 2016. "The Role of Institutional Environment in International Trade. The Case of Spanish Regions," REGION, European Regional Science Association, vol. 3, pages 125-140.
    4. Mathilde Maurel & Hugo Lapeyronie & Bogdan Meunier, 2016. "Impact of hard and soft infrastructure: Evidence from the EU partners, North Africa and CEECs," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-01396058, HAL.
    5. Claudio Candia Campano & Medardo Aguirre González & Lilliam Antón López & Javier Beltrán Valdebenito, 2018. "A gravity model of trade for Nicaraguan agricultural exports," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, vol. 37(74), pages 391-428, July.
    6. Parra, María Dolores & Martínez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada, 2015. "Imported inputs and Egyptian exports: Exploring the links," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 9, pages 1-31.
    7. Persson, Maria, 2012. "From trade preferences to trade facilitation: Taking stock of the issues," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 6, pages 1-33.
    8. Bourdet, Yves & Persson, Maria, 2011. "Reaping the Benefits of Deeper Euro-Med Integration Through Trade Facilitation," Working Papers 2011:15, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    9. Ofei, Edmund Okraku, 2017. "Impact of PTA on Trade Margins of LDCs in Sub- Saharan Africa: Evidence from the EBA," MPRA Paper 86976, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Luis Florensa & Laura Márquez-Ramos & María Recalde, 2015. "The effect of economic integration and institutional quality of trade agreements on trade margins: evidence for Latin America," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 151(2), pages 329-351, May.
    11. Claudio Candia Campano & Medardo Aguirre González & Lilliam Antón López & Javier Beltrán Valdebenito, 2018. "A gravity model of trade for Nicaraguan agricultural exports," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, vol. 37(74), pages 391-428, July.
    12. Serranito, Francisco, 2013. "Heterogeneous technology and the technological catching-up hypothesis: Theory and assessment in the case of MENA countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 685-697.
    13. Leila Baghdadi & Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso & Celestino Suárez-Burguet & Habib Zitouna, 2012. "Is the road to regional integration paved with pollution convergence?," Working Papers 2012/03, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).

    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. Cao, Liangyue, 2010. "Solving Inequality Constrained Problems using GEMPACK," Conference papers 331932, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    2. Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso & Gordon Wilmsmeier, 2010. "Freight Rates and the Margins of Intra-Latin American Maritime Trade," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 201, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    3. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2007. "Firms in International Trade," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 105-130, Summer.
    4. Maria Cipollina & David Laborde Debucquet & Luca Salvatici, 2017. "The tide that does not raise all boats: an assessment of EU preferential trade policies," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 153(1), pages 199-231, February.
    5. D'Artis Kancs & Pavel Ciaian, 2010. "Factor content of bilateral trade: the role of firm heterogeneity and transaction costs," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(3‐4), pages 305-317, May.
    6. Povilas Lastauskas, 2013. "Europe’s Revolving Doors: Import Competition and Endogenous Firm Entry InstitutionS," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1360, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    7. Foster, Neil & Poeschl, Johannes & Stehrer, Robert, 2011. "The impact of Preferential Trade Agreements on the margins of international trade," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 84-97, March.
    8. Dahai Fu & Yanrui Wu & Yihong Tang, 2012. "Does Innovation Matter for Chinese High-Tech Exports? A Firm-Level Analysis," Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, Higher Education Press, vol. 7(2), pages 218-245, June.
    9. Jayjit Roy, 2014. "On the robustness of the trade-inducing effects of trade agreements and currency unions," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 253-304, August.
    10. Baier, Scott L. & Yotov, Yoto V. & Zylkin, Thomas, 2019. "On the widely differing effects of free trade agreements: Lessons from twenty years of trade integration," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 206-226.
    11. Valentina Raimondi & Margherita Scoppola & Alessandro Olper, 2012. "The Impact of European Union Preferential Policies in the Rice Industry: A Dynamic Panel Gravity Approach," FOODSECURE Working papers 4, LEI Wageningen UR.
    12. Alessandrini, Michele & Fattouh, Bassam & Ferrarini, Benno & Scaramozzino, Pasquale, 2009. "Tariff Liberalization and Trade Specialization in India," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 177, Asian Development Bank.
    13. Frederik Stender, 2018. "MERCOSUR in gravity: an accounting approach to analyzing its trade effects," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 501-522, April.
    14. Firat Demir, 2009. "Financialization and Manufacturing Firm Profitability under Uncertainty and Macroeconomic Volatility: Evidence from an Emerging Market," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(4), pages 592-609, November.
    15. Grant, Jason H. & Boys, Kathryn A., 2015. "The GATT/WTO Trade Effect 20 Years Later: A Critical Review and New Insights," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205896, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. Raddatz, Claudio, 2011. "Over the hedge : exchange rate volatility, commodity price correlations, and the structure of trade," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5590, The World Bank.
    17. Luis Marcelo Florensa & Laura Márquez-Ramos & María Luisa Recalde & María Victoria Barone, 2014. "Does economic integration increase trade margins? Empirical evidence from LAIAs countries," Working Papers 2014/05, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    18. Hillberry, Russell & Hummels, David, 2013. "Trade Elasticity Parameters for a Computable General Equilibrium Model," Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, in: Peter B. Dixon & Dale Jorgenson (ed.), Handbook of Computable General Equilibrium Modeling, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 1213-1269, Elsevier.
    19. Valentina Raimondi & Margherita Scoppola & Alessandro Olper, 2012. "Preference erosion and the developing countries exports to the EU: a dynamic panel gravity approach," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 148(4), pages 707-732, December.
    20. Patricia Sourdin & Richard Pomfret, 2012. "Trade Facilitation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14596.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General

    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:oup:jafrec:v:21:y:2012:i:2:p:228-265. 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: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/csaoxuk.html .

    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.