IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/spmain/hal-03391935.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Gravity Equation in International Trade: an Explanation

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Chaney

    (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

The gravity equation in international trade states bilateral exports are proportional to economic size, and inversely proportional to geographic distance. While the role of size is well understood, that of distance remains mysterious. I offer an explanation for the role of distance: If (i) the distribution of firm sizes is Pareto, (ii) the average squared distance of a firm's exports is an increasing power function of its size, and (iii) a parameter restriction holds, then the distance elasticity of trade is constant for long distances. When the firm size distribution follows Zipf's law, trade is inversely proportional to distance.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Chaney, 2018. "The Gravity Equation in International Trade: an Explanation," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03391935, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:spmain:hal-03391935
    DOI: 10.1086/694292
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://sciencespo.hal.science/hal-03391935
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://sciencespo.hal.science/hal-03391935/document
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/694292?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. 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 474-481, August.
    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. Gurdip Bakshi & Xiaohui Gao & George Panayotov, 2021. "A Theory of Dissimilarity Between Stochastic Discount Factors," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(7), pages 4602-4622, July.
    2. Ciani, Andrea & Mau, Karsten, 2023. "Delivery times in international competition: An empirical investigation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    3. Gerhard Streicher & Andreas Reinstaller, 2021. "Die Auswirkungen der Digitalisierung in der Industrie auf den Gütertransport in Österreich," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 67332.
    4. Roche Rodriguez, Jaime Alfonso & Robertson, Raymond & Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys & Zárate, Daniela Ruiz, 2023. "Trade Liberalization and Local Labor Markets in Morocco," IZA Discussion Papers 16213, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Saša Petković & Jelica Rastoka & Dragana Radicic, 2023. "Impact of Innovation and Exports on Productivity: Are There Complementary Effects?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-22, April.
    6. Andre Jungmittag & Robert Marschinski, 2023. "Service trade restrictiveness and foreign direct investment—Evidence from greenfield FDI in business services," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(6), pages 1711-1758, June.
    7. Karsten Mau & Rosalie Seuren, 2023. "One belt, one road, one way? Where European exporters benefit from the new silkroad," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 159(2), pages 257-297, May.

    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. Nilanjan Banik & John Gilbert, 2010. "Regional Integration and Trade Costs in South Asia," Chapters, in: Douglas H. Brooks & Susan F. Stone (ed.), Trade Facilitation and Regional Cooperation in Asia, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Ghatak, Subrata & Piperakis, Andromachi S., 2007. "The impact of Eastern European immigration to UK trade," Economics Discussion Papers 2007-3, School of Economics, Kingston University London.
    3. David Law & Murat Genç & John Bryant, 2013. "Trade, Diaspora and Migration to New Zealand," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 582-606, May.
    4. Markus Brueckner & Ngo Van Long & Joaquin L. Vespignani, 2020. "Non-Gravity Trade," Globalization Institute Working Papers 388, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    5. Walid Hejazi, 2005. "Are Regional Concentrations of OECD Exports and Outward FDI Consistent with Gravity?," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 33(4), pages 423-436, December.
    6. Bo Xiong & John Beghin, 2017. "Disentangling Demand-Enhancing And Trade-Cost Effects Of Maximum Residue Regulations," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: John Christopher Beghin (ed.), Nontariff Measures and International Trade, chapter 6, pages 105-108, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Mutti, John & Grubert, Harry, 2004. "Empirical asymmetries in foreign direct investment and taxation," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 337-358, March.
    8. Marco Dueñas & Giorgio Fagiolo, 2013. "Modeling the International-Trade Network: a gravity approach," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 8(1), pages 155-178, April.
    9. Festus Ebo Turkson, 2012. "Trade Agreements and Bilateral Trade in Sub-Saharan Africa: Estimating the Trade Effects of the EU-ACP PTA and RTAs," Discussion Papers 12/07, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    10. Guglielmo Caporale & Christophe Rault & Robert Sova & Anamaria Sova, 2009. "On the bilateral trade effects of free trade agreements between the EU-15 and the CEEC-4 countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 145(3), pages 573-573, October.
    11. Michele FRATIANNI & Chang HOON HO, 2007. "On the Relationship Between RTA Expansion and Openness," Working Papers 288, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    12. repec:zna:indecs:v:13:y:2015:i:2:p:434-449 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Maria Cipollina & Luca De Benedictis & Luca Salvatici & Claudio Vicarelli, 2016. "Policy Measurement And Multilateral Resistance In Gravity Models," Working Papers LuissLab 16130, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, LUISS Guido Carli.
    14. Shahbaz Nasir & Kaliappa Kalirajan, 2016. "Information and Communication Technology-Enabled Modern Services Export Performances of Asian Economies," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 33(1), pages 1-27, March.
    15. Vincent Leyaro, 2021. "Trade effects of the East Africa Customs Union in Tanzania: Application of a structural gravity model," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-55, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. 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.
    17. Abban, Stanley & Ofori-Abebrese, Grace, 2019. "The Prospect Of ECOWAS Currency Union On Intra-Regional Trade," MPRA Paper 102226, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Cipollina, Maria & Salvatici, Luca, 2007. "EU and developing countries: an analysis of preferential margins on agricultural trade flows," Working Papers 7219, TRADEAG - Agricultural Trade Agreements.
    19. Arjan Lejour & Vladimir Solanic & Paul Tang, 2009. "EU Accession and Income Growth: An Empirical Approach," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 16(1), pages 127-144, May.
    20. Bahar, Dany & Hausmann, Ricardo & Hidalgo, Cesar A., 2014. "Neighbors and the evolution of the comparative advantage of nations: Evidence of international knowledge diffusion?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 111-123.
    21. A. James Wynne & Chandrashekar Challa & John Palesis & Bernie Farkas, 2015. "A Conceptual Model: Impact Of Usage Of Social Media Tools To Enhance Project Management Success," Portuguese Journal of Management Studies, ISEG, Universidade de Lisboa, vol. 0(2), pages 55-72.

    More about this item

    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:spmain:hal-03391935. 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: Contact - Sciences Po Departement of Economics (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.