Open AccessCultural similarity and international trade in a panel of nations
Author(s) -
Eui-Gak Hwang,
Rongxing Guo
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
suid-afrikaanse tydskrif vir ekonomiese en bestuurswetenskappe/south african journal of economic and management sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.277
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 2222-3436
pISSN - 1015-8812
DOI - 10.4102/sajems.v9i2.1148
Subject(s) - gravity model of trade , international trade , similarity (geometry) , panel data , economics , international economics , bilateral trade , contrast (vision) , trade barrier , gravity equation , economic integration , political science , econometrics , artificial intelligence , computer science , law , china , image (mathematics)
Using a gravity model and the data of a panel of eight nations, we present evidence that supports the views that geographical influence on trade had increased from 1985 to 1997. In both years, linguistic influence on trade is found to exist in export but not in import. The estimated results show a positive relation between religious similarity and international trade for the year 1985 but not for the year 1997. However, there is an indication that, for 1997, the religious dissimilarity tends to discourage international trade with low-income countries and regions and to encourage international trade with high-income countries. We also find that, for low-income trade partners, religious dissimilarity retards imports more than exports; by contrast, for high-income trade partners, it encourages exports more than imports