IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-00716633.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The long-run decline in the share of agricultural and food products in international trade: a gravity equation approach to its causes

Author

Listed:
  • Raul Serrano

    (Applied Economics and Economic History - Universidad de Zaragoza = University of Zaragoza [Saragossa University] = Université de Saragosse)

  • Vicente Pinilla

    (Applied Economics and Economic History - Universidad de Zaragoza = University of Zaragoza [Saragossa University] = Université de Saragosse)

Abstract

The objective of this study is to determine the causes of the loss of share of agricultural products and food in international trade. The article compares, using a gravity model, the impact of various factors upon bilateral trade in agricultural products, in manufactures and in total trade, between 1963 and 2000 for a representative sample of 40 countries. The results clearly demonstrate how the low demand elasticity for agricultural products and food, the high degree of protectionism to which they were subjected and their meagre share in intra-industrial trade are the principal causes of their relatively slow growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Raul Serrano & Vicente Pinilla, 2011. "The long-run decline in the share of agricultural and food products in international trade: a gravity equation approach to its causes," Post-Print hal-00716633, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00716633
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2011.587786
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00716633v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-00716633v1/document
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00036846.2011.587786?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frankel, Jeffrey A & Rose, Andrew K, 1998. "The Endogeneity of the Optimum Currency Area Criteria," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(449), pages 1009-1025, July.
    2. Giovanni Federico, 2005. "Introduction to Feeding the World: An Economic History of World Agriculture, 1800-2000," Introductory Chapters, in: Feeding the World: An Economic History of World Agriculture, 1800-2000, Princeton University Press.
    3. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2004. "Trade Costs," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 691-751, September.
    4. Serrano, Raúl & Pinilla, Vicente, 2011. "The terms of trade for agricultural and food products, 1951-2000," Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 29(2), pages 213-243, July.
    5. Andrew K. Rose, 2004. "Do We Really Know That the WTO Increases Trade?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 98-114, March.
    6. Keith Head & John Ries, 2001. "Increasing Returns versus National Product Differentiation as an Explanation for the Pattern of U.S.-Canada Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 858-876, September.
    7. Won W. Koo & P. Lynn Kennedy & Anatoliy Skripnitchenko, 2006. "Regional Preferential Trade Agreements: Trade Creation and Diversion Effects ," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 28(3), pages 408-415.
    8. Krugman, Paul, 1980. "Scale Economies, Product Differentiation, and the Pattern of Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(5), pages 950-959, December.
    9. Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1997. "Regional Trading Blocs in the World Economic System," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 72, April.
    10. Michael Tomz & Judith L. Goldstein & Douglas Rivers, 2007. "Do We Really Know That the WTO Increases Trade? Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 2005-2018, December.
    11. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, April.
    12. Paul E. Jensen, 2006. "Trade, Entry Barriers, and Home Market Effects," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 104-118, February.
    13. Won W. Koo & P. Lynn Kennedy & Anatoliy Skripnitchenko, 2006. "Regional Preferential Trade Agreements: Trade Creation and Diversion Effects," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 28(3), pages 408-415.
    14. Beck, Nathaniel & Katz, Jonathan N., 1995. "What To Do (and Not to Do) with Time-Series Cross-Section Data," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(3), pages 634-647, September.
    15. Richard Baldwin & Paul Krugman, 1989. "Persistent Trade Effects of Large Exchange Rate Shocks," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 104(4), pages 635-654.
    16. Subramanian, Arvind & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2007. "The WTO promotes trade, strongly but unevenly," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 151-175, May.
    17. Jeffrey A. Frankel & Ernesto Stein & Shang-Jin Wei, 1998. "Continental Trading Blocs: Are They Natural or Supernatural?," NBER Chapters, in: The Regionalization of the World Economy, pages 91-120, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Bergstrand, Jeffrey H, 1989. "The Generalized Gravity Equation, Monopolistic Competition, and the Factor-Proportions Theory in International Trade," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(1), pages 143-153, February.
    19. Dell'Aquila, Crescenzo & Sarker, Rakhal & Meilke, Karl D., 1999. "Regionalism And Trade In Agrifood Products," Working Papers 14591, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    20. Masahiro Endoh, 1999. "Trade creation and trade diversion in the EEC, the LAFTA and the CMEA: 1960-1994," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(2), pages 207-216.
    21. Jarko Fidrmuc, 2004. "The core and periphery of the world economy," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 89-106.
    22. Paul Krugman, 1995. "Growing World Trade: Causes and Consequences," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1, 25th A), pages 327-377.
    23. Helpman, Elhanan, 1987. "Imperfect competition and international trade: Evidence from fourteen industrial countries," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 62-81, March.
    24. Andrew K. Rose, 2000. "One money, one market: the effect of common currencies on trade," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 15(30), pages 08-45.
    25. Raul Serrano & Vicente Pinilla, 2010. "Causes of world trade growth in agricultural and food products, 1951-2000: a demand function approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(27), pages 3503-3518.
    26. Thomas W. Hertel & Zhi Wang & Wusheng Yu, 1998. "Understanding the Determinants of Structural Change in World Food Markets," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1051-1061.
    27. Andrew Rose, 2005. "Which International Institutions Promote International Trade?," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(4), pages 682-698, September.
    28. Anonymous, 1947. "The Food and Agriculture Organization of The United Nations," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 121-123, February.
    29. Anonymous, 1947. "Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(2), pages 350-353, June.
    30. Boriss Siliverstovs & Dieter Schumacher, 2007. "Using the gravity equation to differentiate among alternative theories of trade: another look," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(14), pages 1065-1073.
    31. David Hummels & James Levinsohn, 1995. "Monopolistic Competition and International Trade: Reconsidering the Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(3), pages 799-836.
    32. Simon J. Evenett & Wolfgang Keller, 2002. "On Theories Explaining the Success of the Gravity Equation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(2), pages 281-316, April.
    33. Thomas W. Hertel & Zhi Wang & Wusheng Yu, 1998. "Understanding the Determinants of Structural Change in World Food Markets," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1051-1061.
    34. Deardorff, Alan V., 1984. "Testing trade theories and predicting trade flows," Handbook of International Economics, in: R. W. Jones & P. B. Kenen (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 467-517, Elsevier.
    35. Dieter Schumacher & Boriss Siliverstovs, 2006. "Home-Market and Factor-Endowment Effects in a Gravity Approach," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 142(2), pages 330-353, July.
    36. Anonymous, 1947. "Food and Agriculture Organization," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(3), pages 516-519, September.
    37. Guedae Cho & Ian M. Sheldon & Steve McCorriston, 2002. "Exchange Rate Uncertainty and Agricultural Trade," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 84(4), pages 931-942.
    38. Xinshen Diao & Terry Roe & Agapi Somwaru, 2001. "What is the Cause of Growth in Regional Trade: Trade Liberalisation or RTAs? The Case of Agriculture," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 51-79, January.
    39. Masahiro Endoh, 2005. "The effects of the GSTP on trade flow: mission accomplished?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(5), pages 487-496.
    40. Gaël Raballand, 2003. "Determinants of the Negative Impact of Being Landlocked on Trade: An Empirical Investigation Through the Central Asian Case," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 45(4), pages 520-536, December.
    41. Baier, Scott L. & Bergstrand, Jeffrey H., 2007. "Do free trade agreements actually increase members' international trade?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 72-95, March.
    42. Soloaga, Isidro & Winters, L. Alan, 1999. "How has regionalism in the 1990s affected trade?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2156, The World Bank.
    43. Anderson, James E, 1979. "A Theoretical Foundation for the Gravity Equation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(1), pages 106-116, March.
    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. Vicente Pinilla, 2024. "Agricliometrics and Agricultural Change in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries," Springer Books, in: Claude Diebolt & Michael Haupert (ed.), Handbook of Cliometrics, edition 3, pages 1837-1869, Springer.
    2. Permani, Risti & Xu, Xing, 2020. "The Nexus between Natural disasters, Supply Chains and Trade – Revisiting the Role of FTAs in Disaster Risk Reduction," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304269, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Raúl Serrano & Vicente Pinilla, 2014. "New directions of trade for the agri-food industry: a disaggregated approach for different income countries, 1963–2000," Latin American Economic Review, Springer;Centro de Investigaciòn y Docencia Económica (CIDE), vol. 23(1), pages 1-22, December.
    4. Carl GAIGNÉ & Cathie LAROCHE DUPRAZ & Alan MATTHEWS, 2015. "Thirty years of European research on international trade in food and agricultural products," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, INRA Department of Economics, vol. 96(1), pages 91-130.
    5. Duarte, Rosa & Pinilla, Vicente & Serrano, Ana, 2021. "The globalization of Mediterranean agriculture: A long-term view of the impact on water consumption," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    6. Miguel Tinoco-Zermeño & Francisco Venegas-Martínez & Víctor Torres-Preciado, 2014. "Growth, bank credit, and inflation in Mexico: evidence from an ARDL-bounds testing approach," Latin American Economic Review, Springer;Centro de Investigaciòn y Docencia Económica (CIDE), vol. 23(1), pages 1-22, December.
    7. Faraji Dizaji, Sajjad & Jariani, Farzaneh & Najarzadeh, Reza, 2018. "Impact of sanctions on bilateral trade of agricultural products between Iran and MENA region and the EU countries," MPRA Paper 89438, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Risti Permani & Xing Xu, 2022. "The nexus between natural disasters, supply chains and trade—Revisiting the role of preferential trade agreements in disaster risk reduction," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(10), pages 3002-3030, October.
    9. Kym Anderson & Vicente Pinilla, 2022. "Wine's belated globalization, 1845–2025," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(2), pages 742-765, June.
    10. Poomthan Rangkakulnuwat & Rungravee Weravess, 2022. "The gravity model for rice exports: The cases of India and Thailand," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 42(3), pages 1432-1473.
    11. Leitão, Nuno Carlos & Tripathi, Sabyasachi, 2013. "Portuguese Trade and European Union: The Gravity Model," MPRA Paper 45994, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Kym Anderson & Vicente Pinilla, 2018. "What’s in the annual database of Global Wine Markets, 1835 to 2016?," Documentos de Trabajo de la Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria 1802, Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria.

    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. Raúl Serrano & Vicente Pinilla, 2014. "New directions of trade for the agri-food industry: a disaggregated approach for different income countries, 1963–2000," Latin American Economic Review, Springer;Centro de Investigaciòn y Docencia Económica (CIDE), vol. 23(1), pages 1-22, December.
    2. Miguel Tinoco-Zermeño & Francisco Venegas-Martínez & Víctor Torres-Preciado, 2014. "Growth, bank credit, and inflation in Mexico: evidence from an ARDL-bounds testing approach," Latin American Economic Review, Springer;Centro de Investigaciòn y Docencia Económica (CIDE), vol. 23(1), pages 1-22, December.
    3. Vicent Pinilla & Raúl Serrano, 2010. "The long-run decline in the share of agricultural and food products in international trade, 1951-2000: a gravity equation approach of its causes," Documentos de Trabajo de la Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria 1002, Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria.
    4. Simone Juhasz Silva & Douglas Nelson, 2012. "Does Aid Cause Trade? Evidence from an Asymmetric Gravity Model," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5), pages 545-577, May.
    5. Cardamone, Paola, 2007. "A Survey of the Assessments of the Effectiveness of Preferential Trade Agreements using Gravity Models," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 60(4), pages 421-473.
    6. Yilmazkuday, Hakan, 2012. "Understanding interstate trade patterns," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 158-166.
    7. Salvador Gil-Pareja, 2011. "Do nonreciprocal preference regimes increase exports?," ERSA conference papers ersa11p1561, European Regional Science Association.
    8. Michele Fratianni & Francesco Marchionne, 2011. "The Limits to Integration," Chapters, in: Miroslav N. Jovanović (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Integration, Volume I, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Head, Keith & Mayer, Thierry, 2014. "Gravity Equations: Workhorse,Toolkit, and Cookbook," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 131-195, Elsevier.
    10. Yilmazkuday, Hakan, 2009. "Distribution of Consumption, Production and Trade within the U.S," MPRA Paper 16361, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. A. Cheptea & A. Gohin & Marilyne Huchet, 2008. "Applying the gravity approach to sector trade: who bears the trade costs?," Post-Print hal-00742046, HAL.
    12. Dennis Novy, 2013. "Gravity Redux: Measuring International Trade Costs With Panel Data," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(1), pages 101-121, January.
    13. de Sousa, José & Mayer, Thierry & Zignago, Soledad, 2012. "Market access in global and regional trade," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 1037-1052.
    14. Baier, Scott L. & Bergstrand, Jeffrey H., 2001. "The growth of world trade: tariffs, transport costs, and income similarity," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 1-27, February.
    15. Trotignon, Jérôme, 2010. "Does Regional Integration Promote the Multilateralization of Trade Flows?: a Gravity Model Using Panel Data," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 25, pages 223-251.
    16. Yilmazkuday, Hakan, 2009. "How Important is Technology? A Counterfactual Analysis," MPRA Paper 16838, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Zhang, Daowei & Li, Yanshu, 2009. "Forest endowment, logging restrictions, and China's wood products trade," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 46-53, March.
    18. Scott L. Baier & Amanda Kerr & Yoto V. Yotov, 2018. "Gravity, distance, and international trade," Chapters, in: Bruce A. Blonigen & Wesley W. Wilson (ed.), Handbook of International Trade and Transportation, chapter 2, pages 15-78, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Baier, Scott L. & Bergstrand, Jeffrey H., 2007. "Do free trade agreements actually increase members' international trade?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 72-95, March.
    20. Gil-Pareja, Salvador & Llorca-Vivero, Rafael & Martínez-Serrano, José Antonio, 2014. "Do nonreciprocal preferential trade agreements increase beneficiaries' exports?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 291-304.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social Sciences & Humanities;

    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:hal:journl:hal-00716633. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.