The Relationship between GATT Membership and Structural Breaks in International Trade

Suleiman Abu-Bader () and Aamer S. Abu-Qarn ()

Global Economy Journal, 2008, vol. 8, issue 4

Abstract: Using sequential structural break tests, we attempt to determine if and when a new GATT member experiences statistically significant changes in the paths of its trade with incumbent members. To test for the nature of a change, we compare the averages of the actual postbreak trade shares with the averages of the postbreak extrapolated trade shares. Should a significant structural break be detected, we compare the break year with the accession year of that country to GATT. Our results show that only a small fraction of countries experience significant positive structural breaks in their trade shares. Furthermore, any significant positive breaks generally occur far before or after the time of a country's accession to GATT.

Keywords: GATT membership; international trade; structural breaks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:glecon:v:8:y:2008:i:4:n:1

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