Specialization and the volume of trade: do the data obey the laws?

James Harrigan

No 140, Staff Reports from Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Abstract: The core subjects of trade theory are the pattern and volume of trade: which goods are traded by which countries, and how much of those goods are traded. The first part of this paper discusses evidence on comparative advantage, with an emphasis on carefully connecting theoretical models with data analyses. The second part of the paper considers the theoretical foundations of the gravity model and reviews the small number of studies that have tried to test, rather than simply use, the implications of gravity. Both parts of the paper yield the same conclusion: we are still in the very early stages of empirically understanding specialization and the volume of trade, but the work that has been done can serve as a starting point for further research.

Keywords: comparative advantage; International trade; gravity model; specialization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 57 pages
Date: 2001-11-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pke
Note: For a published version of this report, see James Harrigan, "Specialization and the Volume of Trade: Do the Data Obey the Laws?" in Kwan Choi and James Harrigan, eds., Handbook of International Trade. Oxford: Basil Blackwell: 85-118.
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

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