Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Diplomatic barriers to trade

  • Published:
De Economist Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

The diplomatic climate, represented by events-data-indicators, is a significant explanatory variable in an investigation into the determinants of the bilateral trade flows of 40 countries in the year 1985. The empirical results of a gravity model support the hypothesis that political cooperation and hostility among countries shape the pattern of international trade. An improvement (deterioration) of the diplomatic climate,ceteris paribus, increases (decreases) the bilateral trade flows. It appears that western market economies adjust exports in reaction to diplomatic events, whereas the centrally planned economies adjust imports.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aitken, N.D., ‘The Effect of the EEC and EFTA on European Trade: A Temporal Cross-Section Analysis,’American Economic Review, LXIII (1973), pp. 881–892.

    Google Scholar 

  • Azar, E.E., ‘The Conflict and Peace Data Bank (COPDAB) Project,’Journal of Conflict Resolution, XXIV (1980), pp. 143–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, N.A. and C. Lord, ‘On Strategic Economics,’Comparative Strategy, VII (1988), pp. 93–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin, D.A.,Economic Statecraft, Princeton, 1985.

  • Bergeijk, P.A.G. van, ‘Success and Failure of Economic Sanctions,’Kyklos, XLII (1989), pp. 385–404.

    Google Scholar 

  • —,Handel, politiek en handelspolitiek (Trade, Politics and Trade Policy), Den Haag, 1991.

  • Bergeijk, P.A.G. van and H. Oldersma, ‘Détente, Market-oriented Reform and German Unification. Potential Consequences for the World Trade System,’Kyklos, XLIII (1990), pp. 599–609.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergstrand, J.H., ‘The Gravity Equation in International Trade: Some Microeconomic Foundations and Empirical Evidence,’Review of Economics and Statistics, LXVII (1985), pp. 474–481.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——, ‘The Generalized Gravity Equation, Monopolistic Competition, and the Factor-Proportions Theory in International Trade,’Review of Economics and Statistics, LXXI (1989), pp. 143–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhagwati, J.N. and T.N. Srinivasan, ‘Optimal Trade Policy and Compensation under Endogenous Uncertainty: The Phenomenon of Market Disruption,’Journal of International Economics, VI (1976), pp. 317–336.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brakman, S.,International Trade Modeling, Ph.D. Thesis for the Faculty of Economics, University of Groningen, 1991.

  • Collini, S., D. Winch and J. Burrow,That Noble Science of Politics: A Study in Nineteenth-Century Intellectual History, Cambridge, 1983.

  • Deardorff, AN., ‘Testing Trade Theories and Predicting Trade Flows,’ in: R.W. Jones and P.B. Kenen (eds.),Handbook of International Economics, I, Amsterdam, 1984, pp. 467–517.

  • Faber, J., ‘Measuring Cooperation, Conflict and the Social Network of Nations,’Journal of Conflict Resolution, XXI (1987), pp. 438–464.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey, B.S.,International Political Economics, Oxford, 1984.

  • Hirschman, A. O.,National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade, [1945] expanded edition, Berkeley, 1980.

  • Hont, L, ‘Free Trade and the Economic Limits to National Politics: Neo-Machiavellian, Political Economy Reconsidered,’ in: J. Dunn (ed.) The Economic Limits to Modern Politics, Cambridge (Mass.), 1990, pp. 41–120.

  • Kindleberger, C.P.,Power and Money: The Politics of International Economics and the Economics of International Politics, Basingstoke, 1970.

  • Knorr, K.,The Power of Nations: The Political Economy of International Relations, New York, 1975.

  • Leidy, M.P., ‘The Theory of International Economic Sanctions — A Public Choice Approach: Comment,’American Economic Review, LXXIX (1989), pp. 1300–1303.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linnemann, H.,An Econometric Study of International Trade Flows, Amsterdam, 1966.

  • Linnemann, H. and H. Verbruggen, ‘GSTP Tariff Reduction and its Effects on South-South Trade in Manufactures,’ Free University Research Memorandum 44, Amsterdam, 1988.

  • Lundborg, P., ‘Voting with the United States or the USSR in the United Nations: A Logistic Approach,’ Paper presented at the IIIrd World Congress of the Peace Science Society (International), Maryland, June 1988.

  • Marrewijk, C. van and P.A.G. van Bergeijk, ‘Trade Uncertainty and Specialization: Social versus Private Planning,’De Economist, CXXXVIII (1990), pp. 15–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayer, W., ‘The National Defense Tariff Argument Reconsidered,’Journal of International Economics, VI (1977), pp. 363–377.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mill, J.S.,Principles of Political Economy With Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy, [1840] Collected Works II, London 1968.

  • Pindyck, R.S. and D.J. Rubinfeld,Econometric Models and Economic Forecasts, Singapore 1981.

  • Polachek, S.W., ‘Conflict and Trade,’Journal of Conflict Resolution, XXIV (1980), pp. 55–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollins, B.M., ‘Does Trade Still Follow the Flag?,’American Political Science Review, LXXXV (1989a), pp. 465–480.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——, ‘Conflict, Cooperation and Commerce: The Effects of International Political Interactions on Bilateral Trade Flows,’American Journal of Political Science, XXXIII (1989b), pp. 737–761.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricardo, D.,The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation [1817], London, 1962.

  • Roemer, J.E., ‘The Effects of Sphere of Influence Effects and Economic Distance on the Commodity Composition of Trade in Manufactures,’Review of Economics and Statistics, LIX (1977), pp. 318–327.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sayrs, L.W., ‘Expected Utility and Peace Science: An Assessment of Trade and Conflict,’Conflict Management and Peace Science, XI (1990), pp. 17–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A.,An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations [1776], Oxford, 1976.

  • Spero, J.E.,The Politics of International Economic Relations, Boston, 1977.

  • Srinivasan, T.N., ‘The National Defense Argument for Government Intervention in Foreign Trade,’ in: R.M. Stern (ed.),U.S. Trade Policy in a Changing World, Cambridge (Mass.), 1987.

  • Summary, R.M., ‘A Political-Economic Model of U.S. Bilateral Trade,’Review of Economics and Statistics, LXXI (1989), pp. 179–182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Summers, R. and A. Heston, ‘A New Set of International Comparisons of Real Product and Prices: Estimates for 130 Countries, 1950–1985,’Review of Income and Wealth, XXXIV (1988), pp. 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tinbergen, J.,Shaping the World Economy. Suggestions for an International Economic Policy, New York, 1962.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Economic Affairs, Directorate-General for Foreign Economic Relations, Department for International Economic Analysis and General Affairs, P.O.Box 20101, 2500 EC, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Peter A. G. van Bergeijk

Authors
  1. Peter A. G. van Bergeijk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

This article communicates my own point of view and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the government of The Netherlands.

This article is based on my dissertationHandel en diplomatie (Trade and Diplomacy) at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Groningen, March 29, 1990. Preliminary versions were presented at the Eastern Economic Association's 15th Annual Meeting in Baltimore, March 3, 1989 and at the annual meeting of the Foundation for the Promotion of Research in Economic Sciences (ECOZOEK), Wageningen, April 28, 1989. Comments by Jan Bade, Steven Brakman, Henk de Haan, Ger Lanjouw, Hans Linnemann, Charles van Marrewijk, two anonymous referees and participants of both meetings were very useful.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

van Bergeijk, P.A.G. Diplomatic barriers to trade. De Economist 140, 45–64 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01849803

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01849803

Keywords

Search

Navigation