We estimate the effect of RTAs on bilateral exports by means of a gravity model analyzing its sensitivity to different specifications and methods. RTAs generate a sizable positive effect. However, shifting to country-pair and time-varying fixed effects systematically reduces coefficients....

This paper demonstrates that the appropriate econometric technique of testing for the effect of regional integration on bilateral trade is to augment the standard gravity model with country specific dummies instead of regional integration dummies. Using data on bilateral trade between Tanzania...

After the Visegrad countries’ accession to the EU in 2004, one of the most remarkable developments was the sudden upturn in their mutual trade. In 2007 the value of aggregate intra-Visegrad trade was two and a half times higher than in 2003. The rate of growth in these countries’ trade with...

GeoDist makes available the exhaustive set of gravity variables used in Mayer and Zignago (2005). GeoDist provides several geographical variables, in particular bilateral distances measured using citylevel data to assess the geographic distribution of population inside each nation. We have...

In this paper, we examine the role of export promotion agencies (EPAs) in promoting exports from Japan and Korea. Looking at two home countries enables us to tackle endogeneity issues by controlling for both country-pair time-invariant characteristics and importing country time-varying...

This paper investigates the determinants of trade between Oman and its major Asian trading partners in order to gauge the impact of the process of trade liberalisation. The empirical findings based on the gravity model indicate that Oman's imports from Asia are strongly determined by Asian...

This paper attempts to estimate the trade potential expected from the SADC FTA. Specifically, the study investigates what the Southern African countries stand to gain by way of increases in intra-regional trade if all trade barriers are removed. In order to assess the trade potential compared to...

This paper investigates the effect of the customs union between Turkey and the European Union on the balance of trade in Turkey. The framework for analysis is an extended trade gravity model onto which the impact of the customs union is applied. The gravity model of trade is estimated using...

This paper fits a gravity model to the trade of 76 market economies. It then applies the model to data on East European economies to estimate what their trading potential might have been, had behaved like market economies in the mid-1980s. At existing levels of national income, the...