Suchergebnisse

As a consequence of the increasing globalization and integration of the world's markets, there has been an intensive process of international fragmentation of the production over the last few decades. This phenomenon whereby previously integrated productive activities are segmented and internationally spread is reflected in the rapid increase in parts and components trade, growing at higher rates than final goods trade. In this process, the Western Balkan countries (WBC) have not been an exception. With their recent integration into the global markets, the WBC have witnessed growth in parts and components trade that has even exceeded the world average. This paper examines the determinants of the trade that stems from the international fragmentation of production in the WBC. Using a panel data set of disaggregated bilateral trade flows, we estimate gravity equations for the period 2000-2009. Our findings support the hypothesis drawn from the theory of fragmentation that trade in parts and components is motivated by labor cost differences and by geographical and proximity reasons. The relevance of additional service link costs, as well as the influence of institutional similarity and infrastructure quality or political-economic agreements is also confirmed by our empirical research.

This article investigates the determinants of maritime trade. It focuses in particular on the extent to which variations in trade-related costs between Asia and Europe help to explain the surge in Euro–Asian trade in eight of the most emblematic categories of products related to Asian success: textiles, footwear, confection, machinery, electronic products, vehicles, furniture and pharmaceutical products. In marked contrast to other studies that focus only on the determinants of total maritime trade, we decompose trade into two margins: the number of different products exchanged (extensive margin) and the average value of each product (intensive margin). We estimate a trade-augmented gravity model with trade cost factors for specific trade flows and industries and for both margins of trade. Several types of trade costs are considered, namely maritime transport costs, time to export/import, behind-the-border trade costs and distances. The main findings indicate that lower freight costs increase aggregate trade values mainly by increasing the average value of imported varieties, but also by increasing the number of products traded. Our findings suggest that political actions aimed at spurring competition and innovation in the maritime transport industry do have an impact on the volume and composition of international trade.

Este artículo analiza la influencia de la conectividad del transporte sobre los flujos comerciales entre regiones desde una perspectiva de dependencia espacial. Para ello, se consideran dos criterios de vecindad en un modelo de gravedad autorregresivo espacial. En primer lugar, se considera el criterio geográfico de contigüidad de primer orden y, en segundo lugar, se incorpora la conectividad del transporte. Los resultados obtenidos constatan la importancia de las plataformas logísticas para satisfacer la demanda de infraestructura de transporte en las regiones españolas. El artículo también justifica la necesidad de avanzar en la consecución de bases de datos desagregadas sobre flujos de comercio dentro de un país y de indicadores regionales del grado de desarrollo logístico para otros territorios y países.

This research has three main aims: firstly, to empirically analyse the determinants of different levels ofintegration by re-examining the evidence presented by Baier and Bergstrand (Journal of International Economics 64(1):29–63, 2004) in the JIE 64 (1); secondly, to analyse the importance of additional factors, in particular socio-political factors; and thirdly, to analyse the dynamics of the EU integration process. The results show that although economic and geographical factors are the most important explanatory factors for the probability of regional integration agreement formation or enhancement, socio-political variables also contribute to explain the formation of regional integration agreements. Democracies and countries with a higher level of economic freedom are more likely to form or enhance RIAs

This research has three main aims: firstly, to empirically analyse the determinants of different levels of integration by re-examining the evidence presented by Baier and Bergstrand (Journal of International Economics 64(1):29–63, 2004) in the JIE 64 (1); secondly, to analyse the importance of additional factors, in particular socio-political factors; and thirdly, to analyse the dynamics of the EU integration process. The results show that although economic and geographical factors are the most important explanatory factors for the probability of regional integration agreement formation or enhancement, socio-political variables also contribute to explain the formation of regional integration agreements. Democracies and countries with a higher level of economic freedom are more likely to form or enhance RIAs. ; peerReviewed

Abstract
The main aim of this paper is to investigate the role of distance in gravity regressions in relation to the missing globalisation puzzle cited by Coe et al. (2002). These authors claimed that the fact that distance coefficients do not fall over time is another puzzle that should have been added in Obsfeld and Rogoff's (2000) paper, in which six major puzzles in international macroeconomics were cited. In order to do so, a linear and a non-linear gravity model are estimated for a cross-section of 65 countries over the period 1980-1999. Non-linear specifications of the gravity model have been recently used in the literature to address the issue of non-declining transport costs over time (Coe et al., 2002 and Croce et al., 2004). However, we claim that there is no missing globalisation puzzle once the linear specification results are correctly interpreted. The main findings are that distance has a different effect for developed and developing countries and that the grounds for using a non-linear specification are not clear since the linear specification, in general terms, shows better performance than the non-linear one.

This paper aims to analyse the determinants of transport costs and to investigate their influence in international trade with a sample of disaggregate trade data. First, we estimate a transport cost function using cross-section data on maritime and overland transport for four sectors: agro-industry, ceramic tiles, motor vehicle parts and accessories, and electrical and mechanical household appliances, obtained from interviews held with Spanish exporters and logistics operators in 2001. Second, we study the relationship between transport costs and trade and estimate the elasticity of trade with respect to transport costs for each sector. Important differences for high and low value-added sectors are observed. The trade equation estimation shows that higher transport costs significantly deter trade, especially in high value-added sectors.