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Gravity or Dummies? The Limits of Identification in Gravity Estimations

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  • Cecília Hornok
Abstract
Trade economists often estimate gravity equations of international trade with fixed effects. Anderson and van Wincoop (2003, American Economic Review 93, 170–192) have shown the importance of controlling for multilateral trade resistances when estimating a gravity equation. This can be done by including exporter-time and importer-time fixed effects in a panel or exporter and importer fixed effects in a cross section estimation. I argue that this approach limits the identifiability of policy parameters that capture the effect of certain ”club memberships” (EU, NAFTA, euro area, WTO, etc.) on trade flows. I show that, in the baseline case, only one effect can be identified, which precludes, for example, the estimation of separate effects on the exporter and the importer side. The magnitude, and even the sign, of the estimated club effect are very sensitive to the precise identification assumptions, which are often left unspecified in empirical studies. The underlying problem is that club membership provides some, but very little bilateral variation. When heterogeneous club effects are to be identified, the membership dummies can become perfectly collinear with the fixed effects. Empirical researchers may not be aware of the lack of identification, because standard estimation techniques often permit them to run perfectly collinear regressions. I illustrate the findings with estimating the effect of EU enlargement in 2004 on the trade flows of new and old members. Finally, I discuss potential solutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Cecília Hornok, 2011. "Gravity or Dummies? The Limits of Identification in Gravity Estimations," CeFiG Working Papers 15, Center for Firms in the Global Economy, revised 26 Sep 2011.
    • Handle: RePEc:cfg:cfigwp:15
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2004. "Trade Costs," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 691-751, September.
    2. Baier, Scott L. & Bergstrand, Jeffrey H., 2009. "Bonus vetus OLS: A simple method for approximating international trade-cost effects using the gravity equation," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 77-85, February.
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    13. Cecília Hornok, 2011. "Need for Speed: Is Faster Trade in the EU Trade-Creating?," wiiw Working Papers 75, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. László Mátyás & Cecilia Hornok & Daria Pus, 2012. "The Formulation and Estimation of Random Effects Panel Data Models of Trade," CEU Working Papers 2012_1, Department of Economics, Central European University, revised 25 Mar 2013.
    2. Erik Marel & Ben Shepherd, 2013. "Services Trade, Regulation and Regional Integration: Evidence from Sectoral Data," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(11), pages 1393-1405, November.
    3. Sébastien Miroudot & Ben Shepherd, 2014. "The Paradox of ‘Preferences’: Regional Trade Agreements and Trade Costs in Services," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(12), pages 1751-1772, December.
    4. P. Montalbano & S. Nenci, 2014. "Assessing the trade impact of the European Neighbourhood Policy on the EU-MED Free Trade Area," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(7), pages 730-740, March.
    5. Andrea Saayman & Paolo Figini & Silvio Cassella, 2016. "The influence of formal trade agreements and informal economic cooperation on international tourism flows," Tourism Economics, , vol. 22(6), pages 1274-1300, December.
    6. Laszlo Balazsi & Laszlo Matyas & Tom Wansbeek, 2018. "The estimation of multidimensional fixed effects panel data models," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 212-227, March.
    7. Thomas Kopp & Sören Prehn & Bernhard Brümmer, 2016. "Preference Erosion – The Case of Everything But Arms and Sugar," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(9), pages 1339-1359, September.
    8. Matyas, Laszlo & Balazsi, Laszlo, 2011. "The estimation of three-dimensional fixed effects panel data models," MPRA Paper 34976, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Maria Cipollina & Luca De Benedictis & Luca Salvatici & Claudio Vicarelli, 2016. "Policy Measurement And Multilateral Resistance In Gravity Models," Working Papers LuissLab 16130, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, LUISS Guido Carli.
    10. Pierluigi Montalbano & Silvia Nenci & Laura Dell'Agostino, 2019. "A non-parametric re-assessment of the trade effects of the euro using value added data," Working Papers 9/19, Sapienza University of Rome, DISS.
    11. Maria Cipollina & Luca Salvatici & Luca De Benedictis & Claudio Vicarelli, 2013. "A note on dummies for policies in gravity models: a Montecarlo experiment," Departmental Working Papers of Economics - University 'Roma Tre' 0180, Department of Economics - University Roma Tre.
    12. Oesingmann, Katrin, 2022. "The effect of the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) on aviation demand: An empirical comparison with the impact of ticket taxes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    13. Frederik Stender, 2018. "MERCOSUR in gravity: an accounting approach to analyzing its trade effects," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 501-522, April.
    14. Nivedita Mullick & Areej A. Siddiqui, 2021. "Economic Integration Agreements and Extensive Margin of Export: An Empirical Study of India," Working Papers 2155, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.
    15. Lavinia Rotili, 2014. "The Euro effects on intermediate and final exports," Working Papers 7/14, Sapienza University of Rome, DISS.

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