Abstract
This paper investigates whether the introduction of the Euro has affected trade. Contrary to the existing literature and motivated by recent development in trade theory, we apply quantile regressions for panel data to examine the effect of the Euro at moments other than the conditional mean of the trade flow distribution. Our results show that even with this more general approach the Euro’s effect on trade remains bleak.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
This is not true for the conditional mean.
We thank an anonymous referee for this useful comment.
A RTA dummy is not included in the regressions with EEA and EU15 because all the countries in these groups already share a RTA. The regression with OECD countries includes a RTA dummy because not all OECD countries share a RTA and therefore there will be enough variation in the dummy variable representing a RTA.
We thank Silvana Tenreyro for sharing this data with us.
All tables we discuss in this section report estimates obtained using the quantile regression estimator. The standard errors are clustered and robust with respect to heteroskedasticity and serial correlation (Santos Silva and Parente, forthcoming).
References
Alesina A, Barro R, Tenreyro S (2002) Optimal currency areas. In: Gertler M, Rogoff K (eds) NBER macroeconomics annual, vol 17. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 301–345
Anderson J, van Wincoop E (2003) Gravity with gravitas: a solution to the border puzzle. Am Econ Rev 93:170–192
Anderton R, Baltagi B, Skudelny F, Sousa N (2002) Intra-and extra-Euro area import demand for manufactures. European trade study group annual conference 2002, 4, European Trade Study Group
Baier S, Bergstrand J (2007) Do free trade agreements actually increase members’ international trade? J Int Econ 71:72–95
Baldwin R (2006) The Euro’s trade effects. ECB working paper series, Nr. 594
Baldwin R, Di Nino V, (2006) Euros and zeros: the common currency effect on trade in new goods. NBER Nr. 12673
Baldwin R, Taglioni D (2006) Gravity for dummies and dummies for gravity equations. NBER Nr. 12516
Baldwin R, Skudelny F, Taglioni D (2005) Trade effects of the Euro: evidence from sectorial data. ECB No. 446, Frankfurt
Barro R, Tenreyro S (2007) Economic effects of currency unions. Econ Inq 45:1–197
Barr D, Breedon F, Miles D (2003) Life on the outside. Econ Policy 18:573–613
Bayoumi T, Eichengreen B (1993) Shocking aspects of European economic unification. In: Torres F, Giavazzi F (eds) Adjustment and growth in the European Monetary union. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 193–229
Bayoumi T, Eichengreen B (1997) Ever closer to heaven? An optimum-currency-area index for European countries, European Economic Review 41:761–770
Belloni A, Chernozhukov V, Fernandez-Val I (2011) Conditional quantile processes based on series and many regressors (with an Application to Gasoline Demand), unpublished paper
Berger H, Nitsch V (2008) Zooming out: the trade effect of the Euro in historical perspective. J Int Money Financ 27:1244–1260
Berthou A, Fontagnè L (2008) The Euro effects on the firm and product-level trade margins: evidence from France. CEPII working paper
Bun MJG, Klaassen FJGM (2002) Has the Euro increased trade? Tinbergen Inst Discuss Pap 108/2, Amsterdam
Bun MJG, Klaassen FJGM (2007) The Euro effect on trade is not as large as commonly thought. Oxf Bull Econ Stat 69:473–496
Campbell DL (2013) Estimating the impact of currency unions on trade: solving the glick and rose puzzle. World Econ 10:1278–1293
Figueiredo E, Lima LR, Schaur G (2014) Robust estimation of gravity equations and the WTO impact on trade inequality. Working paper, The University of Tennessee
Flam H, Nordström H, (2003) Trade volume effects of the Euro: aggregate and sector estimates. IIES Seminar Pap 746, Inst Int Econ Stud, Stockholm
Flam H, Nordström H (2006) Euro effects on the intensive and extensive margins of trade. IIES Seminar Pap. 750. Inst Int Econ Stud, Stockholm
Frankel JA, Rose A (1998) The endogeneity of the optimum currency area criteria. Econ J 108:1009–1025
Gutenbrunner C, Jurečková J (1992) Regression rank scores and regression quantiles. Ann Stat 20:305–330
Havránek T (2010) Rose effect and the Euro: is the magic gone? Rev World Econ 146:241–261
Handley K, Limao N (2015) Trade and investment under policy uncertainty: theory and firm evidence. Am Econ J Policy 7(4)
He X, Shao Q (2000) On parameters of increasing dimension. J Multivar Anal 73:120–135
Head K, Mayer T, Ries J (2010) The erosion of colonial trade linkages after independence. J Int Econ 81:1–14
Hummels D, Schaur G (2013) Time as a trade barrier. Am Econ Rev 103:2935–2959
Kato K, Galvao AF, Montes-Rojas G (2012) Asymptotics for panel quantile regression models with individual effects. J Econom 170:76–91
Koenker R, Bassett G Jr (1978) Regression quantiles. Econometrica 46:33–50
Koenker R (2004) Quantile regression for longitudinal data. J Multivar Anal 91:74–89
Koenker R, Zhao Q (1994) L-estimation for linear heteroskedasticity models. J Nonparametr Stat 3:223–235
Krugman P (2012) Revenge of the optimum currency area. NBER Macroecon Ann 27(1):439–448
Melitz M, Ottaviano G (2008) Market size, trade, and productivity. Rev Econ Stud 75:295–316
Micco A, Stein E, Ordoñez G (2003) The EMU effect on trade: what’s in it for the UK? Inter-American Development Bank, July 2003
Micco A, Stein E, Ordoñez G (2003) The currency union effect on trade: early evidences from EMU. CEPR Econ Policy 37:317–356
Mundell R (1961) A theory of optimum currency areas. Am Econ Rev 51:657–665
Rose A (2000) One money one market: estimating the effects of common currencies on trade. Econ Policy 15:9–48
Rose A (2001) Currency union and trade: the effect is large. Econ Policy 16:433–462
Rose A (2008) Is EMU becoming an optimum currency area? The evidence on trade and business cycle synchronization. working paper
Rose A, van Wincoop E (2001) National money as a barrier to international trade: the real case for currency union. Am Econ Rev 91:386–390
Santos Silva J, Parente P (forthcoming) Quantile regression with clustered data. J Econ Methods
Santos Silva J, Tenreyro S (2010a) Currency unions in prospect and retrospect. Ann Rev Econ 2:51–74
Santos Silva J, Tenreyro S (2010b) Has the Euro increased trade? Short answer: no, CentrePiece
Santos Silva J, Tenreyro S (2006) The log of gravity. Rev Econ Stat 88:641–658
Spearot A (2013) Variable demand elasticities and tariff liberalization. J Int Econ 89:26–41
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
We thank two anonymous reviewers and the editor for helpful comments and suggestions.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Figueiredo, E., Lima, L.R. & Schaur, G. The effect of the Euro on the bilateral trade distribution. Empir Econ 50, 17–29 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-015-1004-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-015-1004-1