IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/hwwadp/26379.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Gravity approach for exploring Baltic Sea regional integration in the field of international trade

Author

Listed:
  • Paas, Tiiu

Abstract

The paper is inviting a reader to think to what extent we can use the knowledge resulting from laws of nature for exploring economic processes. In order to look for the answers on this question, the paper is going to explore international trade flows between the Baltic Sea region countries using a gravity approach. Attention is paid to analyzing forces that attract foreign trade flows and to exploring the influence of distance as an indicator that expresses both transportation costs and cultural proximity of the countries. The results of modeling support the statement that the size of economy has statistically significant and positive influence on the bilateral trade relations of the region. The influence of economic development level that is expressed by GDP per capita is statistically insignificant. In the case of the Baltic regional integration, distance is expressing most significantly cultural proximity and historical relationship between the countries. The regional integration effect in trade is inherently larger for small countries. Small economies in transition have to look for a regional niche to penetrate into the international market.

Suggested Citation

  • Paas, Tiiu, 2002. "Gravity approach for exploring Baltic Sea regional integration in the field of international trade," HWWA Discussion Papers 180, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:hwwadp:26379
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/19342/1/180.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cees van Beers & Guido Biessen, 1996. "Trade Possibilities and Structure of Foreign Trade: The Case of Hungary and Poland," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 38(2-3), pages 1-19, September.
    2. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2003. "Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 170-192, March.
    3. 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.
    4. Helpman, Elhanan, 1989. "Monopolistic Competition in Trade Theory," Foerder Institute for Economic Research Working Papers 275470, Tel-Aviv University > Foerder Institute for Economic Research.
    5. James Harrigan, 2001. "Specialization and the volume of trade: do the data obey the laws?," Staff Reports 140, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    6. Alan V. Deardorff, 2011. "Determinants of Bilateral Trade: Does Gravity Work in a Neoclassical World?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Robert M Stern (ed.), Comparative Advantage, Growth, And The Gains From Trade And Globalization A Festschrift in Honor of Alan V Deardorff, chapter 24, pages 267-293, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. 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.
    8. Bergstrand, Jeffrey H, 1990. "The Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson Model, the Linder Hypothesis and the Determinants of Bilateral Intra-industry Trade," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(403), pages 1216-1229, December.
    9. 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.
    10. World Bank, 2000. "World Development Indicators 2000," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13828.
    11. Krugman, Paul R., 1979. "Increasing returns, monopolistic competition, and international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 469-479, November.
    12. Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1998. "The Regionalization of the World Economy," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number fran98-1.
    13. Tiiu Paas, 2000. "The gravity approach for modeling international trade patterns for economies in transition," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 6(4), pages 633-648, November.
    14. John Whalley, 1998. "Why Do Countries Seek Regional Trade Agreements?," NBER Chapters, in: The Regionalization of the World Economy, pages 63-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. 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.
    16. Raymond Vernon, 1966. "International Investment and International Trade in the Product Cycle," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 80(2), pages 190-207.
    17. Gros, Daniel & Gonciarz, Andrzej, 1996. "A note on the trade potential of Central and Eastern Europe," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 709-721, December.
    18. Lancaster, Kelvin, 1980. "Intra-industry trade under perfect monopolistic competition," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 151-175, May.
    19. M. V. Posner, 1961. "International Trade And Technical Change," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(3), pages 323-341.
    20. McCallum, John, 1995. "National Borders Matter: Canada-U.S. Regional Trade Patterns," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 615-623, June.
    21. Paul Krugman, 1998. "Space: The Final Frontier," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 161-174, Spring.
    22. Helpman, Elhanan, 1981. "International trade in the presence of product differentiation, economies of scale and monopolistic competition : A Chamberlin-Heckscher-Ohlin approach," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 305-340, August.
    23. Wang, Zhen Kun & Winters, L. Alan, 1991. "The Trading Potential of Eastern Europe," CEPR Discussion Papers 610, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    24. Baldwin, Richard, 1993. "The Potential for Trade Between the Countries of EFTA and Central and Eastern Europe," CEPR Discussion Papers 853, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    25. 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. Fetzer, James J. & Rivera, Sandra A., 2005. "Modeling Modifications in Rules of Origin: A Partial Equilibrium Approach," Conference papers 331372, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    2. Getachew, Asgedom Tessema & Tadele, Ferede & Arega, Hailu & Fantu, Guta, 2005. "The Impact of Regional Economic Cooperation on the Ethiopian Manufacturing Sector: the Case of Common Market for Southern and Eastern Free Trade Area (COMESA-FTA)," Ethiopian Journal of Economics, Ethiopian Economics Association, vol. 10(1), pages 1-98, May.
    3. Isabel Proença & Maria Fontoura & Enrique Martínez-Galán, 2008. "Trade in the enlarged European Union: a new approach on trade potential," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 7(3), pages 205-224, December.
    4. Kaukin, Andrei & Idrisov, Georgij, 2013. "The gravity model of foreign trade in Russia: the case of a large area of the country with the longest border," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, pages 133-145, August.
    5. Laaser, Claus-Friedrich & Schrader, Klaus, 2003. "Neue Partner in Europa: der baltische Außenhandel im Umbruch," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 3128, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    6. Lammers, Konrad, 2002. "Die Osterweiterung aus raumwirtschaftlicher Perspektive - Prognosen regionalokonomischer Theorien und Erfahrungen aus der bisherigen Integration in Europa," Discussion Paper Series 26126, Hamburg Institute of International Economics.
    7. Enrique Martínez-Galán & Maria-Paula Fontoura & Isabel Proença, 2005. "Trade Potential In An Enlarged European Union: A Recent Approach," International Trade 0508011, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Lammers, Konrad, 2002. "Die Osterweiterung aus raumwirtschaftlicher Perspektive: Prognosen regionalökonomischer Erfahrungen aus der bisherigen Integration in Europa," HWWA Discussion Papers 195, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    9. Antonis Adam & Mr. James McHugh & Mr. Theodora Kosma, 2003. "Trade Liberalization Strategies: What Could South Eastern Europe Learn From Cefta and Bfta?," IMF Working Papers 2003/239, International Monetary Fund.

    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. Paas, Tiiu, 2002. "Gravity Approach for Exploring Baltic Sea Regional Integration in the Field of International Trade," Discussion Paper Series 26379, Hamburg Institute of International Economics.
    2. Cafiso, Gianluca, 2007. "The Geographic Space in International Trade: from Gravity to New Economic Geography," MPRA Paper 20269, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Chengang Wang & Yingqi Wei & Xiaming Liu, 2010. "Determinants of Bilateral Trade Flows in OECD Countries: Evidence from Gravity Panel Data Models," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(7), pages 894-915, July.
    4. Kandogan, Yener, 2009. "A Gravity Model for Components of Imports," Review of Applied Economics, Lincoln University, Department of Financial and Business Systems, vol. 5(1-2), pages 1-17, April.
    5. 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.
    6. Muhammad Ullah & Kazuo Inaba, 2012. "Impact of RTA and PTA on Bangladesh’s Export: Application of a Gravity Model," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 445-460, December.
    7. Evelyn S. Devadason & Shujaat Mubarik, 2020. "ASEAN and the EU: an assessment of interregional trade potentials," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 705-726, July.
    8. 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.
    9. Estrella Gómez-Herrera, 2013. "Comparing alternative methods to estimate gravity models of bilateral trade," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 1087-1111, June.
    10. Tiiu Paas, 2000. "The gravity approach for modeling international trade patterns for economies in transition," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 6(4), pages 633-648, November.
    11. James Harrigan, 2001. "Specialization and the Volume of Trade: Do the Data Obey the Laws?," NBER Working Papers 8675, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2004. "Trade Costs," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 691-751, September.
    13. 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.
    14. Michele Fratianni, 2007. "The Gravity Equation in International Trade," Working Papers 2007-17, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    15. Dinçer, Gönül, 2014. "Turkey’s Rising Imports from BRICS: A Gravity Model Approach," MPRA Paper 61979, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Jacks, David S. & Meissner, Christopher M. & Novy, Dennis, 2011. "Trade booms, trade busts, and trade costs," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 185-201, March.
    17. Emla Fitzsimons & Vincent Hogan & J. Peter Neary, 1999. "Explaining the Volume of North-South Trade in Ireland - A Gravity Model Approach," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 30(4), pages 381-401.
    18. Lionel Fontagné & Michaël Pajot & Jean-Michel Pasteels, 2002. "Potentiels de commerce entre économies hétérogènes : un petit mode d'emploi des modèles de gravité," Economie & Prévision, La Documentation Française, vol. 0(1), pages 115-139.
    19. 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.
    20. Dinda, Soumyananda, 2018. "Climate Friendly Goods and Technology Trade: Climate Mitigation Strategy of India," MPRA Paper 93031, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2018.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    International trade; gravity models; Baltic Sea region;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C10 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - General
    • 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:zbw:hwwadp:26379. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/hwwaade.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.