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Measuring trade costs and analyzing the determinants of trade growth between Cambodia and major trading partners: 1993–2019

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  • Keo, Borin
  • Li, Bin
  • Younis, Waqas

Abstract

Like in many other least-developed countries (LDCs), high trade costs have long been a major barrier to Cambodia's trade integration. Despite their practical significance and increasing policy attention in the country, little is known about these costs. This study aims to measure trade costs and explore the driving forces behind the growth of bilateral trade between Cambodia and its top 30 trading partners from 1993 to 2019. A micro-founded measure of trade costs introduced by Novy (2013) is employed to calculate Cambodia's trade costs. This article contributes to the literature on Cambodia's trade costs by being the first to provide a comprehensive measure of these costs, including a wide range of barriers, such as tariffs, transportation costs, border-related costs, infrastructure inefficiencies, and other factors impeding Cambodia's bilateral trade flows. We find that Cambodia's average trade costs decreased by 35.43% between 1993 and 2019. Fluctuations in average trade costs persisted until 2014, despite Cambodia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2004. Since then, these costs have declined more rapidly. Cambodia's bilateral trade costs are lower with its major trading partners in Southeast Asia and East Asia than with those in South Asia, Oceania, Europe, and North America. Cambodia's average trade costs with developing and emerging economies are lower than those with developed economies. Between 2014 and 2019, Cambodia experienced a notable decline in average trade costs with trading partners along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) corridors by 34.78%, twice as fast as with non-BRI trading partners. Regarding the decomposition of trade growth, we find that the expansion of Cambodian trade from 1993 to 2019 was driven by three factors: the rise in income (59.65%), the decline in trade costs (56.69%), and the decline in multilateral resistance (-16.34%). The findings of this study have significant implications for a better understanding of Cambodia's development toward global trade integration over the past two decades. Our results suggest that Cambodia can optimize its trade expansion potential by focusing on its relations with trading partners exhibiting high economic growth potential and those achieving substantial reductions in trade costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Keo, Borin & Li, Bin & Younis, Waqas, 2025. "Measuring trade costs and analyzing the determinants of trade growth between Cambodia and major trading partners: 1993–2019," OSF Preprints d6vte_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:osfxxx:d6vte_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/d6vte_v1
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • F11 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Neoclassical Models of Trade
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • O24 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Trade Policy; Factor Movement; Foreign Exchange Policy
    • R40 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - General

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