Intra-Arab Trade: Is it too Little?

January 1, 2000

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Format: Chicago

Tarik Yousef, and Hassan Al-Atrash. Intra-Arab Trade: Is it too Little?, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2000) accessed November 21, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

This paper estimates a gravity model to address the issue of whether intra-Arab trade is too little. Although gravity models have been extensively used to measure bilateral trade among countries, they have—to the best of our knowledge—never been used to measure intra-Arab trade. Our results suggest that intra-Arab trade and Arab trade with the rest of the world are lower than what would be predicted by the gravity equation, suggesting considerable scope for regional—as well as multilateral—integration. The results also suggest that intra-GCC and intra-Maghreb trade are relatively low while the Mashreq countries exhibit a higher level of intragroup trade.

Subject: Econometric analysis, Exports, Gravity models, Imports, International trade, Plurilateral trade, Trade balance, Trade barriers

Keywords: Andean Pact country, Arab countries, Arab country, Exports, GCC country, Gravity model, Gravity models, Imports, Maghreb, Mashreq country, Oil-producing country, Reporting country, Trade, Trade balance, Trade barriers, Trade creation, Trade diversion effect, Trade restrictiveness index, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

20
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2000/010
Stock No:

WPIEA0102000
ISBN:

9781451842685
ISSN:

1018-5941

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