国际贸易中的引力方程外文翻译.docVIP

外文翻译 原文 The Gravity Equation in International Trade Material Source: KELLY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS INDIANA UNIVERSITY Department of Business Economics and Public Policy Author: Michele Fratianni Abstract This chapter offers a selective survey of the gravity equation (GE) in international trade. This equation started in the Sixties as a purely empirical proposition to explain bilateral trade flows, without little or no theoretical underpinnings. At the end of the Seventies, the GE was “legitimized” by a series of theoretical articles that demonstrated that the basic GE form was consistent with various models of trade flows. Empirical applications of GE expanded to cover a variety of issues, such as the impact of regional trade agreements, national borders and currency unions on trade, as well as the use of the equation to sort out the relative merit of alternative trade theories. A new wave of studies is now concentrating on the general equilibrium properties of the GE and finer econometrics points. The renewed interest of the academic profession in the development of the GE is undoubtedly driven by the equation’s empirical success. Keywords: gravity equation, trade theories, borders, regional trade agreement, currency unions. JEL Classification: E58, F15, F33, G15 Draft date: August, 2007 I. INTRODUCTION International economics and international business have common interests but somewhat different research agendas. The former emphasizes cross-border trade and capital flows, whereas the latter looks predominantly at foreign direct investment. Part of this difference results from the emphasis that scholars in international business place on the study of the multinational firm and part is due to intellectual specialization. It is worth recalling that the yearly flows of international trade are a large multiple of the yearly flows of foreign direct investment, while the stock of foreign direct investment has only recently approached annual trade flows (see Figure 1)