Are All Trade Agreements Equal? : The Role of Distance in Shaping the Effect of Economic Integration Agreements on Trade Flows

Freeman, Rebecca ; Pienknagura, Samuel

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: trade agreements;    regional integration;    geography;    economic distance;    gravity model;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7809
RP-ID  :  WPS7809

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

How does geographic distance affect theimpact of trade agreements on bilateral exports, and throughwhat channels? This paper examines this questions in agravity model context for different types of goods for 185countries over the period 1965-2010. Three stylized factsemerge. First, although economic integration agreements havea positive impact on trade flows, geographic distancesignificantly decreases their effect. Second, thisphenomenon is in large part explained by the impact ofeconomic integration agreements on distance-sensitive goods,in particular intermediates. These results hold whencontrolling for trade agreement depth, measured by the typeof agreement and content of provisions, and economicsimilarity among trading partners. Third, this paper findseither no significant effect or a positive interactionbetween distance and economic integration agreements forfinal goods, suggesting that trade agreements amongcountries located far from each other help consumptionpatterns shift toward the most efficient producers.