IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v12y2022i2p21582440221106675.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Trade Facilitation Promote Export Technological Sophistication? Evidence From the European Transition Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Yuanhong Hu
  • Min Jiang
  • Sheng Sun
  • Yixin Dai

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the impact of trade facilitation on the export technological sophistication from the European transition economies over 2004 to 2020. It is found that, in terms of trend, the export technological sophistication of labor-intensive and traditional resource-intensive industries is primarily concentrated in a lower range. In contrast, the export technological sophistication of capital and technology-intensive industries is generally low. Trade facilitation in each country shows a slow upward trend. The regression results show that trade facilitation significantly impacts the export technological sophistication of transition economies in general. In terms of heterogeneity, the impact is significant only in the Baltics economies, upper-middle-income and above countries, and to varying degrees in all types of light and heavy industries, differentiated industries, and technology-type industries. The mechanism analysis shows that the “reconfiguration†effect, “pushback†effect, and “spillover†effect are virtual channels through which trade facilitation affects the export technological sophistication.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuanhong Hu & Min Jiang & Sheng Sun & Yixin Dai, 2022. "Does Trade Facilitation Promote Export Technological Sophistication? Evidence From the European Transition Countries," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:12:y:2022:i:2:p:21582440221106675
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440221106675
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440221106675
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440221106675?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chengyan Yue & John C. Beghin, 2017. "Tariff Equivalent And Forgone Trade Effects Of Prohibitive Technical Barriers To Trade," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: John Christopher Beghin (ed.), Nontariff Measures and International Trade, chapter 8, pages 139-150, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Rosa Puertas & Luisa Martí & Leandro García, 2014. "Logistics performance and export competitiveness: European experience," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 41(3), pages 467-480, August.
    3. Yuanhong Hu & Sheng Sun & Yixin Dai, 2021. "Environmental regulation, green innovation, and international competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises in China: From the perspective of heterogeneous regulatory tools," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-28, March.
    4. Shushanik Hakobyan, 2017. "Export Competitiveness of Developing Countries and US Trade Policy," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(7), pages 1405-1429, July.
    5. Elhanan Helpman & Paul Krugman, 1987. "Market Structure and Foreign Trade: Increasing Returns, Imperfect Competition, and the International Economy," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026258087x, April.
    6. Tamazian, Artur & Bhaskara Rao, B., 2010. "Do economic, financial and institutional developments matter for environmental degradation? Evidence from transitional economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 137-145, January.
    7. Laurent Wagner & Mariana Vijil, 2012. "Does Aid for Trade Export Performance? Investigating the Infrastructure Channel," Post-Print halshs-00726435, HAL.
    8. Hausmann, Ricardo & Hidalgo, Cesar A., 2010. "Country Diversification, Product Ubiquity, and Economic Divergence," Working Paper Series rwp10-045, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    9. Richard Baldwin & James Harrigan, 2011. "Zeros, Quality, and Space: Trade Theory and Trade Evidence," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 60-88, May.
    10. Ricardo Hausmann & Jason Hwang & Dani Rodrik, 2007. "What you export matters," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-25, March.
    11. Makhlouf, Yousef & Kellard, Neil M. & Vinogradov, Dmitri, 2015. "Trade openness, export diversification, and political regimes," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 25-27.
    12. Mary Amiti & Jozef Konings, 2007. "Trade Liberalization, Intermediate Inputs, and Productivity: Evidence from Indonesia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1611-1638, December.
    13. Jarreau, Joachim & Poncet, Sandra, 2012. "Export sophistication and economic growth: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 281-292.
    14. Ivarsson, Inge & Alvstam, Claes Göran, 2010. "Supplier Upgrading in the Home-furnishing Value Chain: An Empirical Study of IKEA's Sourcing in China and South East Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 1575-1587, November.
    15. Mariana Vijil & Laurent Wagner, 2012. "Does Aid for Trade Enhance Export Performance? Investigating the Infrastructure Channel," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(7), pages 838-868, July.
    16. Robert C. Feenstra & Hong Ma, 2014. "Trade Facilitation and the Extensive Margin of Exports," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 65(2), pages 158-177, June.
    17. John S. Wilson & Catherine L. Mann & Tsunehiro Otsuki, 2005. "Assessing The Potential Benefit Of Trade Facilitation: A Global Perspective," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Philippa Dee & Michael Ferrantino (ed.), Quantitative Methods For Assessing The Effects Of Non-Tariff Measures And Trade Facilitation, chapter 8, pages 121-160, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    18. Baumol, William J & Lee, Kyu Sik, 1991. "Contestable Markets, Trade, and Development," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 6(1), pages 1-17, January.
    19. Hausmann, Ricardo & Rodrik, Dani, 2003. "Economic development as self-discovery," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 603-633, December.
    20. Asteriou, Dimitrios & Pilbeam, Keith & Tomuleasa, Iuliana, 2021. "The impact of corruption, economic freedom, regulation and transparency on bank profitability and bank stability: Evidence from the Eurozone area," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 150-177.
    21. repec:hal:pseose:hal-00649282 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Kasahara, Hiroyuki & Shimotsu, Katsumi & Suzuki, Michio, 2014. "Does an R&D tax credit affect R&D expenditure? The Japanese R&D tax credit reform in 2003," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 72-97.
    23. Krugman, Paul R., 1979. "Increasing returns, monopolistic competition, and international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 469-479, November.
    24. Chahir Zaki, 2015. "How Does Trade Facilitation Affect International Trade?," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 27(1), pages 156-185, January.
    25. László Halpern & Miklós Koren & Adam Szeidl, 2015. "Imported Inputs and Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(12), pages 3660-3703, December.
    26. Mowery, David C & Oxley, Joanne E, 1995. "Inward Technology Transfer and Competitiveness: The Role of National Innovation Systems," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 19(1), pages 67-93, February.
    27. Portugal-Perez, Alberto & Wilson, John S., 2012. "Export Performance and Trade Facilitation Reform: Hard and Soft Infrastructure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(7), pages 1295-1307.
    28. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2004. "Micro-foundations of urban agglomeration economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 48, pages 2063-2117, Elsevier.
    29. Philippe Aghion & Christopher Harris & Peter Howitt & John Vickers, 2001. "Competition, Imitation and Growth with Step-by-Step Innovation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 68(3), pages 467-492.
    30. Y. H. Venus Lun & John Carlton & Khaild Bichou, 2016. "Examining the economic impact of transport complex economies," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-17, December.
    31. Blalock, Garrick & Veloso, Francisco M., 2007. "Imports, Productivity Growth, and Supply Chain Learning," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1134-1151, July.
    32. Tomasz Iwanow & Colin Kirkpatrick, 2007. "Trade facilitation, regulatory quality and export performance," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(6), pages 735-753.
    33. Shepherd, Ben & Wilson, John S., 2009. "Trade facilitation in ASEAN member countries: Measuring progress and assessing priorities," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 367-383, September.
    34. John S. Wilson & Catherine L. Mann & Tsunehiro Otsuki, 2003. "Trade Facilitation and Economic Development: A New Approach to Quantifying the Impact," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 17(3), pages 367-389, December.
    35. Luisa Martí & Rosa Puertas, 2017. "The importance of export logistics and trade costs in emerging economies," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 19(2), pages 315-333, June.
    36. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    37. Jing Li & Ilan Vertinsky & Hua Zhang, 2013. "The Quality of Domestic Legal Institutions and Export Performance," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 361-390, June.
    38. Lall, Sanjaya & Weiss, John & Zhang, Jinkang, 2006. "The "sophistication" of exports: A new trade measure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 222-237, February.
    39. Yue, Chengyan & Beghin, John C., 2009. "“AJAE Appendix: The Tariff Equivalent and Forgone Trade Effects of Prohibitive Technical Barriers to Trade”," American Journal of Agricultural Economics APPENDICES, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1-5, January.
    40. John S. Wilson & Catherine L. Mann & Tsunehiro Otsuki, 2005. "Assessing the Benefits of Trade Facilitation: A Global Perspective," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 841-871, June.
    41. Li, Changqing & Lu, Jian, 2018. "R&D, financing constraints and export green-sophistication in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 234-244.
    42. Robert Brooks & Sinclair Davidson, 2004. "How Much R&D Should Australia Undertake?," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 23(2), pages 165-174, June.
    43. Evdokia Moïsé & Silvia Sorescu, 2013. "Trade Facilitation Indicators: The Potential Impact of Trade Facilitation on Developing Countries' Trade," OECD Trade Policy Papers 144, OECD Publishing.
    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. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2022. "Do Aid for Trade Flows Help Reduce the Shadow Economy in Recipient Countries?," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-33, December.
    2. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2023. "The Quality of Aid for Trade Flows and Economic Complexity," EconStor Preprints 271538, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

    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. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2020. "Aid for Trade, Export Product Diversification and Import Product Diversification," EconStor Preprints 223021, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    2. Zühal Kurul, 2023. "Hard and soft factors of trade facilitation and export diversification: Evidence for developing and the least developed countries," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 61(2), pages 75-116, June.
    3. Jinzhu Zhang & Fangfang Li & Yu Liu & Baodong Cheng, 2019. "An Assessment of Trade Facilitation’s Impacts on China’s Forest Product Exports to Countries Along the “Belt and Road” Based on the Perspective of Ternary Margins," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-18, March.
    4. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm & Iyer, Harish, 2021. "Effect of Aid for Trade and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows on the Utilization of Unilateral Trade Preferences offered by the QUAD countries," EconStor Preprints 238211, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    5. Hallonsten, Jan Simon & Ziesemer, Thomas, 2016. "A semi-endogenous growth model for developing countries with public factors, imported capital goods, and limited export demand," MERIT Working Papers 2016-004, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    6. Dang Luu Hai, 2021. "Aid for trade and export sophistication in recipient countries," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(4), pages 530-548, May.
    7. Chen Shen, 2023. "The Impact of Infrastructure Development on China–ASEAN Trade-Evidence from ASEAN," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-11, February.
    8. Ueki, Yasushi, 2014. "Trade obstacles, inventory level of inputs, and internationalization of enterprise activities : a comparison between Southeast Asia and Latin America," IDE Discussion Papers 474, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    9. Kang Pan & Rong Liu & Xiaowei Chen & Ying Huang, 2023. "How Does Industrial Agglomeration Affect Exports? Evidence from Chinese Province-Industry Panel Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-18, June.
    10. Léopold BIARDEAU & Anne BORING, 2017. "L’impact de l’aide au développement sur les flux commerciaux entre pays donateurs et pays récipiendaires," Working Paper 464d860e-562e-4ae7-98f5-1, Agence française de développement.
    11. Hu, Yuanhong, 2020. "Trade Facilitation, R&D Innovation, and Export Sophistication of Manufacturing Industries: Evidence from Russia and Central-Eastern European Countries," EconStor Preprints 222927, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    12. Biswas, Trina & Kennedy, P. Lynn, 2018. "The Role of E-governance on Bilateral Agricultural Trade," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274273, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. Kang Pan & Feng He & Rong Liu, 2022. "Does High-Tech Industry Agglomeration Promote Its Export Product Upgrading?—Based on the Perspective of Innovation and Openness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-23, July.
    14. Yu Ri Kim, 2019. "Does aid for trade diversify the export structure of recipient countries?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(9), pages 2684-2722, September.
    15. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2020. "Aid for Trade flows and Poverty Reduction in Recipient-Countries," EconStor Preprints 213807, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    16. Wim Naudé & Martin Cameron, 2021. "Export-Led Growth after COVID-19: The Case of Portugal," Notas Económicas, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, issue 52, pages 7-53, July.
    17. Bernard Hoekman, 2014. "The Bali Trade Facilitation Agreement and Rulemaking in the WTO: Milestone, Mistake or Mirage?," RSCAS Working Papers 2014/102, European University Institute.
    18. Olivier Cadot & Céline Carrère & Vanessa Strauss-Kahn, 2014. "OECD imports: diversification of suppliers and quality search," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 150(1), pages 1-24, February.
    19. Bernard Hoekman, 2014. "The Bali Trade Facilitation Agreement and Rulemaking in the WTO: Milestone, Mistake or Mirage?," RSCAS Working Papers 2014/102, European University Institute.
    20. Mitik, Lulit & Decaluwé, Bernard, 2008. "The impact of trade on female labor and girls’ education in South Africa: a CGE analysis," Conference papers 331785, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.

    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:sae:sagope:v:12:y:2022:i:2:p:21582440221106675. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.