A Comparative Study on the Export Determinants of Kenya and Korea : A Gravity Approach

This paper aims to empirically analyze Kenya's and Korea's export determinants and export performance by using an augmented gravity model. The augmented gravity model for Kenya and Korea was estimated for three different country groups: the 70, 50 and 30 country data sets. The major findings of this study are as follows. A product of exporter's GDP and her trading partners' GDP had a significant and positive effect on the export flows of both Kenya and Korea. For Kenya, the border also had a positive impact on her exports. For Korea, labor productivity had a significant and positive impact on her exports for the three data sets of country groups, while free trade agreements (FTAs) had a significant and positive impact on her exports only for the data set of 30 countries. For Kenya, GDP per capita and her trading partners' GDP per capita had a significant and negative effect on her exports only for the 50 country data set. The exchange rate for Kenya had a significant and negative impact on her exports for all three country data sets, because of Kenya's peculiar composition of exported goods such as raw coffee, tea, horticultural crops and raw minerals. For Korea, distance had a significant and negative effect on her export flows. For Korea, GDP per capita and her trading partners' GDP per capita had a significant and negative impact on her exports for all three data sets of country groups. The exchange rate for Korea had mixed effects with the 70 country data set showing significant and positive effects, while the 50 and 30 country data set had a significant and negative effect on her export flows, which implies that exchange rate depreciation for Korea encouraged export with 70 countries, while it slowed export growth with 50 and 30 countries