A study of socio-cultural ties determining the international trade
Year: 2009
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This thesis discusses the influence of socio-cultural ties between countries on trade relations. Increasing literature has elaborated on studies of classic trade determinants to include the role of social or cultural factors on international exchanges. These factors provide advantaged channels through which trade costs are reduced and bilateral preferences are increased. This study focuses on two factors in order to investigate socio-cultural bonds in a context of international trade: migration and cultural proximity. The first chapter proposes a novel approach to the study of migration's impact on trade. It determines that migration influences impact costs and preferences according to the degree of the products' differentiation. These findings on the preferences' channel demonstrate that differentiated products can be distinguished and identified by their place of origin. Considering the costs' channel, it is important to take into account that differentiated products require specific knowledge that is frequently unavailable or unknown to migrants. In addition, homogenous products are usually traded through organized exchanges, leaving a small margin for participation for migrant businesses. The second chapter focuses on the effects of migration networks on trade. From an alternative perspective, studies have examined how social networks and sociological concepts influence economics. Applying data at French county level, estimations show that this particular type of social interactions explains significantly the composition of immigrants in French counties. This finding attests to the existence of social interactions between immigrants. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that this measure of social interaction influences the international trade of a given region more robustly than previous papers. The third and fourth chapters introduce the study of cultural exchanges with respect to cultural proximity between countries. The third chapter investigates the determinants of cultural trade and the extent to which this kind of trade impacts total trade. This study presents the advantage of extensively examining the coverage in countries in terms of years and the variation over time. Certain aspects of cultural trade are confirmed in this study, such as the importance of having a common language in the trade of books and newspapers. However, the main finding of the chapter is the confirmation that countries with close cultural ties have more intense bilateral exchanges. The fourth chapter applies data at firm level and analyses the spatial distribution of the cultural industry in France and its implications on the country's exports. The high prevalence of this industry is demonstrated through the use of maps and indexes of concentration like the Gini index and the index developed by Ellison and Glaeser (1997). Not surprisingly, data shows a large predominance of the region Ile-de-France and particularly the counties Paris and Hauts-de-Seine. Econometric estimations confirm that the geographic placement of cultural firms in France reflects interdependencies between firms fostering their exports.
Source: HAL
Author: Sílvio Hong Tiing Tai
Language: French
Topic: Global trade and economics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W610330895