The Trade Network Structure of the “One Belt and One Road” and Its Environmental Effects

Shaowei Chen and Qiang (Patrick) Qiang
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Shaowei Chen: School of Economics, Xi’an University of Finance and Economics, Xi’an 710100, China
Qiang (Patrick) Qiang: Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies, Pennsylvania State University, Malvern, PA 19355, USA

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-21

Abstract: Using bilateral trade data along the “One Belt and One Road” (OBOR) from 2005–2016, this paper analyzes the structure and characteristics of the OBOR trade network. We find that the centrality, clustering coefficient, eigenvector centrality and average node strength are generally increasing, and China holds the core position in the network. Furthermore, we use three-stage least squares (3SLS) for analysis of the relationship between CO2 emissions and trade network characteristics and find that the status of country nodes in the trade network has a significant impact on CO2 emissions, with differences between high- and low-income countries. Our results provide additional insights regarding the impacts of the characteristics of the OBOR trade network on CO2 emissions.

Keywords: “One Belt and One Road”; complex network; trade network; structure characteristics; network analysis; environmental effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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