Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Distance-Varying Assortativity And Clustering Of The International Trade Network, Angela Abbate, Luca De Benedictis, Giorgio Fagiolo, Lucia Tajoli

Luca De Benedictis

Implementing Propensity Score Matching With Network Data: The Effect Of Gatt On Bilateral Trade, Luca De Benedictis, Bruno Arpino, Alessandra Mattei

Luca De Benedictis

Islands As `Bad' Geography. Insularity, Connectedness, Trade Costs And Trade, Luca De Benedictis, Anna Maria Pinna

Luca De Benedictis

Schools Of Thought And Economists' Opinions On Economic Policy, Luca De Benedictis, Michele Di Maio

Luca De Benedictis

In this paper we bring to data the hypothesis that economists’ opinions are related to the schools of thought they declare to belong to. Two are the main results of our analysis, based on a novel dataset on Italian economists’ opinions. The first one is that, on average, differences in the School of Thought predict differences in economists’ opinions on a large set of normative questions on economic policy, even controlling for individual and other group or community characteristics, spatial and knowledge heterogeneity, and political orientation. Second, the way of grouping together different schools of thought is crucial as far …

Network Analysis Of World Trade Using The Baci-Cepii Dataset, Luca De Benedictis, Silvia Nenci, Gianluca Santoni, Lucia Tajoli, Claudio Vicarelli

Luca De Benedictis

In this paper we explore the BACI-CEPII database using Network Analysis. Starting from the visualization of the World Trade Network, we then define and describe the topology of the network, both in its binary version and in its weighted version, calculating and discussing some of the commonly used network’s statistics. We finally discuss some specific topic that can be studied using Network Analysis and International Trade data, both at the aggregated and sectoral level. The analysis is done using multiple software (Stata, R, and Pajek). The scripts to replicate part of the analysis are included in the appendix, and can …

On The Pro-Trade Effects Of Immigrants, Massimiliano Bratti, Luca De Benedictis, Gianluca Santoni

Luca De Benedictis

This paper investigates the causal effect of immigration on trade flows using Italian panel data at the province level. We exploit the exceptional characteristics of the Italian data (the fine geographical disaggregation, the very high number of countries of origin of immigrants, the high heterogeneity of social and economic characteristics of Italian provinces, and the absence of cultural or historical ties) coupled with the use of a wide set of fixed effects and an `instrument' based on immigrants' enclaves. We find that immigrants have a significant positive effect on both exports and imports, but much larger for the latter. The …

The Cobden-Chevalier Effect: Evaluating The Causal Effect Of The Most Favoured Nation Clause In Presence Of Network Interdependence, Luca De Benedictis, Silvia Nenci

Luca De Benedictis

Can We Really Trust Offshoring Indices?, Davide Castellani, Luca De Benedictis, Daniel Horgos

Luca De Benedictis

This paper argues that offshoring indices often measure something different than what we think they are. Using data from input-output tables of 21 European countries from 1995 to 2006 we decompose an offshoring index, distinguishing between a domestic (structural change) and an international component (imported inputs ratio). Regarding offshoring of business services, a large share of the index variation is driven by the domestic component. This is even more pronounced for overall service offshoring. In the case of material offshoring, by contrast, the international component drives the main variation of the indices. Our results therefore show that, regarding (business) services, …

Dummies For Policies Or Policies For Dummies. A Montecarlo Gravity Experiment, Maria Pina Cipollina, Luca De Benedictis, Claudio Vicarelli, Luca Salvatici

Luca De Benedictis

The use of the gravity model to evaluate the effect of policies in a cross-country framework is largely predominant in the international economics empirical literature. This literature usually implements importer and exporter fixed effects to account for the theoretical Multilateral Trade Resistances, while preferential trade policies are approximated through the use of dummy variables. Results from a Monte Carlo experiment confirms that the identification of trade policy impact using a gravity equation including fixed effects is severely limited. Moreover, the consequences of the error in measurement of the policy variable are magnified by the fixed effects control for unobserved heterogeneity.

Schools Of Thought And Economists' Opinions On Economic Policy, Luca De Benedictis, Michele Di Maio

Luca De Benedictis

In this paper we bring to data the hypothesis that economists' opinions are related to the schools of thought they declare to belong to. Two are the main results of our analysis, based on a novel dataset on Italian economists' opinions. The first one is that, on average, differences in the School of Thought predict differences in economists' opinions on a large set of normative questions on economic policy, even controlling for individual and other group or community characteristics, spatial and knowledge heterogeneity, and political orientation. Second, the way of grouping together different schools of thought is crucial as far …

Using Multiple Forest Plots To Present Multiple Regressions Results, Luca De Benedictis

Luca De Benedictis

This is figure 2 of a paper with Michele Di Maio, Schools of Thought and Economists' Opinions on Economic Policy. It uses Multiple Plots to present Multiple Regressions Results (as suggested by Kastellec and Leoni, Perspectives on Politics, 2007). R code will follow.

Bivariate Projection, Luca De Benedictis

Luca De Benedictis

This is figure 1 of a paper with Michele Di Maio, Schools of Thought and Economists' Opinions on Economic Policy. It uses a Bivariate Projection, where continuos values are confronted with an ordered variable. R code will follow.

Using Forest Plots To Present Meta-Analysis Results, Luca De Benedictis

Luca De Benedictis

This is figure 1 of the paper with Massimiliano Bratti and Gianluca Santoni, On the Pro-Trade effect of Immigrants. It uses a Forest Plot to present point elasticities and standard errors of different papers dealing with the effect of immigrants on trade flows. R code will follow.

The World Trade Network, Luca De Benedictis, Lucia Tajoli

Luca De Benedictis

This paper uses the tools of network analysis and graph theory to graphically and analytically represent the characteristics of world trade. The structure of the World Trade Network is compared over time, detecting and interpreting patterns of trade ties among countries. In particular, we assess whether the entrance of a number of new important players into the world trading system in recent years has changed the main characteristics of the existing structure of world trade, or whether the existing network was simply extended to a new group of countries. We also analyze whether the observed changes in international trade flow …

The Gravity Model In International Trade, Luca De Benedictis, Daria Taglioni

Luca De Benedictis

This is a beautiful survey of the Gravity model in international trade. It is more empirically oriented than other beautiful surveys (see Anderson 2011 or Bergstrand and Egger 2010), it takes Jan Tinbergen's contribution as a reference point, and it highlights the possible new directions that the literature on gravity should or may take.

Economists' View About The Economy. Evidence From A Survey Of Italian Economists, Luca De Benedictis, Michele Di Maio

Luca De Benedictis

This paper is about economists, their views and their level of consensus on economic policy. Surveying a representative sample of Italian academic economists we show that: (1) economists substantially disagree on both the causes of the Italian economic slowdown and on the most effective policies for a recovery; (2) in spite of the low level of consensus, they do not express polar views; (3) they are largely positive on policies but not on the causes of the Italian economic difficulties. Then we regress individual’s economic policy opinions on a set of covariates: individual characteristics, individual specific information about the Italian …

African Choropleth Maps, Luca De Benedictis

Luca De Benedictis

The figure represents three choropleths of Africa (2007.1-2008.3; 2008.4-2009.1; 2009.2-2009.3) describing with different colors the rate of growth of exports and imports for each country during the three phases. The different nuances of green indicates positive rates of growth; red nuances indicate negative rates. R code will follow.

Slides - Africa In The World Trade Network, Luca De Benedictis

Luca De Benedictis

Here you find the slides of the presentation of the paper Africa in the World Trade Network held in Lausanne University at ETSG 2010, September 10th 2010

Africa In The World Trade Network, Luca De Benedictis

Luca De Benedictis

Comparing Sectoral International Trade Networks, Luca De Benedictis, Lucia Tajoli

Luca De Benedictis

How is the structure of trade flows for a given good organized? Is it a dense, widespread network with many links, or is it a centered network, organized around a hub that centrally coordinates the flows? Does it have a regional structure or a world-wide coverage? These questions might have very different answers according to the type of goods that are traded. The existing trade models suggest that for standardized goods potential partners can be many, but eventually only one (the one offering the best price) should be selected, therefore relatively few (unidirectional) trade links will appear between countries. Instead, …

Patterns In Trade Partners, Luca De Benedictis, Lucia Tajoli

Luca De Benedictis

No abstract provided.

Multiple Kernel Densities, Luca De Benedictis

Luca De Benedictis

This is a simple multiple kernel density plot, from a paper with Lucia Tajoli, Patterns in Trade Partners. R code will follow.

Graph In Pajek, Luca De Benedictis

Luca De Benedictis

This is a Graph from a presentation in Warsaw of the paper The World Trade Network with Lucia Tajoli. The Graph was done in Pajek 1.8.

Overall Trade Specialization And Economic Development: Countries Diversify, Luca De Benedictis, Marco Gallegati, Tamberi Massimo

Luca De Benedictis

This paper provides evidence for an aspect of trade often disregarded in international trade research: countries’ sectoral export diversification. The results of our semiparametric empirical analysis show that, on average, countries do not specialize; on the contrary, they diversify. Our results are robust for different statistical indices used to measure trade specialization, for the level of sectoral aggregation, and for the level of smoothing in the nonparametric term associated with per capita income. Using a generalized additive model (GAM) with countryspecific fixed effects it can be shown that, controlling for countries’ heterogeneity, sectoral export diversification increases with income.

Regional Unemployment And Productivity In Europe, Luca De Benedictis, Roberto Basile

Luca De Benedictis

We analyse the relationship between regional unemployment and labour productivity in Europe, basing our empirical analysis on the predictions of a Neary-type General Oligopolistic Equilibrium trade model with efficiency-wages. Using semiparametric and dynamic panel data estimators and controlling for other factors, we give evidence of a nonlinear relationship between productivity and regional unemployment in Europe: with a level of productivity smaller than a certain threshold, this relationship is negative, while no relation occurs in the case of higher productivity regions. This evidence proves an important role of a wage-floor (induced by efficiency wages and exacerbated by institutional factors) under which …

Semiparametric Analysis Of The Specialization-Income Relationship, Luca De Benedictis

Luca De Benedictis

In this article we investigate the empirical relationship between overall specialization and per capita income. The metric we use to measure overall specialization is the median of the sectoral distribution of the Balassa Index of Revealed Comparative Advantages applied to four-digit (SITC rev.2) sectoral export manufactured data for 39 countries over the period 1985 to 2001. Once we take into account countries' specificities using fixed effects GAM, the results of the semiparametric analysis indicate that sectoral diversification of manufactured exports increases monotonically with development, and thus the reconcentration observed at high levels of income in the recent literature may not …

Similarity In Trade Structures, Integration And Catching-Up, Luca De Benedictis, Lucia Tajoli

Luca De Benedictis

In this paper, we look at the role of export composition in the growth process, considering how increased similarity in trade structure among countries can induce catching-up in income levels in a group of countries in transition. We analyze the sectoral export patterns of the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) by comparing them to those of the current members of the European Union (EU), focusing on countries’ specialization as suppliers for the EU market, and we assess whether similar export patterns foster the catching-up process of the CEECs. Our main result is that similarity in export composition has a …

Economic Integration And Similarity In Trade Structures, Luca De Benedictis, Lucia Tajoli

Luca De Benedictis

In this paper, we look at the similarity of the trade structures toward the EU market between four CEECs and the EU15. We evaluate the appropriateness of different indices to compare export flows—correlation indices and distance metrics—opting for the use of the Bray-Curtis semimetric.

We examine both how the export composition of a country has changed over time and how the export composition has changed with respect to the EU15 export composition. Finally, we test if the dynamics of sectoral

distribution of the CEECs’ exports is related to the role acquired by processed trade in the 1990s. We give evidence …

Openness, Similarity In Export Composition, And Income Dynamics, Luca De Benedictis, Lucia Tajoli

Luca De Benedictis

A relevant share of the theoretical and empirical analysis on economic growth has been devoted to finding a specific role for international trade in reinforcing countries’ growth rates. Not as much attention has been dedicated to the role of sectoral composition of export in influencing the effect of trade on income convergence. In this paper we look at this issue along the line of research on multiple regimes and convergence clubs, considering how openness and similarity in export composition among countries can induce convergence in income levels among the same countries. We apply our analysis to the catching-up of income …

Similarity And Convergence (S-C) Plot, Luca De Benedictis

Luca De Benedictis

This is figure 5 from the paper Economic integration and similarity in trade structures with Lucia Tajoli. We called it S-C plot, Similarity and Convergence plot. It shows on the vertical axis the level of self-similarity (with respect to a self reference level, in our case the trade composition in the initial year of the time series) and on the horizontal axis the level of convergence with the benchmark case (in our case the contemporaneous trade composition of the EU15). South-East movements mean a change in self-similarity and a convergence toward the EU15 trade composition. R code will follow.