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The WTO puzzle, multilateral resistance terms and multicollinearity

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  • Juyoung Cheong
  • Do Won Kwak
  • Kam Ki Tang
Abstract
Since Rose's (2004) striking finding of negligible WTO trade effects, numerous studies have attempted to solve the so-called WTO puzzle. These studies have progressively improved model specifications to control for potential sources of bias, but they often lead to conflicting results. Multilateral resistance terms (MRTs) are considered to be one of the most crucial factors to be accounted for to avoid the omitted variable bias in the gravity model. What has gone unnoticed, however, is that the control for MRTs leads to near-prefect multicollinearity because of the structural relationship between the variables that measure the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization (GATT/WTO) membership status of any country pairs. This multicollinearity contributes to the fragility of the WTO effect estimates, as it dramatically increases SEs. In this article, we explain how this multicollinearity arises and provide evidence of it.

Suggested Citation

  • Juyoung Cheong & Do Won Kwak & Kam Ki Tang, 2014. "The WTO puzzle, multilateral resistance terms and multicollinearity," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(13), pages 928-933, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:apeclt:v:21:y:2014:i:13:p:928-933
    DOI: 10.1080/13504851.2014.899663
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Chang, Pao-Li & Lee, Myoung-Jae, 2011. "The WTO trade effect," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 53-71, September.
    2. Dutt, Pushan & Mihov, Ilian & Van Zandt, Timothy, 2013. "The effect of WTO on the extensive and the intensive margins of trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 204-219.
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    8. Andrew K. Rose, 2004. "Do We Really Know That the WTO Increases Trade?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 98-114, March.
    9. Baier, Scott L. & Bergstrand, Jeffrey H., 2009. "Bonus vetus OLS: A simple method for approximating international trade-cost effects using the gravity equation," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 77-85, February.
    10. Roy, Jayjit, 2011. "Is the WTO mystery really solved?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 113(2), pages 127-130.
    11. Xuepeng Liu, 2009. "GATT/WTO Promotes Trade Strongly: Sample Selection and Model Specification," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 428-446, August.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2021. "WTO membership, the membership duration and the utilization of non-reciprocal trade preferences offered by the QUAD Countries," EconStor Preprints 247265, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    3. Larch, Mario & Monteiro, José-Antonio & Piermartini, Roberta & Yotov, Yoto, 2019. "On the Effects of GATT/WTO Membership on Trade: They are Positive and Large After All," School of Economics Working Paper Series 2019-4, LeBow College of Business, Drexel University.
    4. Magnus dos Reis & Sabino da Silva Pôrto & André Filipe Zago de Azevedo, 2021. "The impacts of the World Trade Organization on new members," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(7), pages 1944-1972, July.
    5. Yoto V. Yotov, 2021. "The Variation of Gravity within Countries (or 15 Reasons Why Gravity Should Be Estimated with Domestic Trade Flows)," CESifo Working Paper Series 9057, CESifo.
    6. Silviano Esteve-Pérez & Salvador Gil-Pareja & Rafael Llorca-Vivero, 2020. "Does the GATT/WTO promote trade? After all, Rose was right," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 156(2), pages 377-405, May.
    7. João Gilberto Mendes dos Reis & Pedro Sanches Amorim & José António Sarsfield Pereira Cabral & Rodrigo Carlo Toloi, 2020. "The Impact of Logistics Performance on Argentina, Brazil, and the US Soybean Exports from 2012 to 2018: A Gravity Model Approach," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-21, August.
    8. Frederik Stender, 2018. "MERCOSUR in gravity: an accounting approach to analyzing its trade effects," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 501-522, April.
    9. Yoto V. Yotov, 2022. "On the role of domestic trade flows for estimating the gravity model of trade," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(3), pages 526-540, July.
    10. Salvador Gil-Pareja & Rafael Llorca-Vivero & José Antonio Martínez-Serrano, 2016. "A Re-Examination of the Effect of GATT/WTO on Trade," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 561-584, July.

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