TY - JOUR
T1 - Cultural distance as a determinant of bilateral trade flows
T2 - Do immigrants counter the effect of cultural differences?
AU - Tadesse B., Bedassa
AU - White, Roger
PY - 2010/2/1
Y1 - 2010/2/1
N2 - We introduce 'cultural distance' as a measure of the degree to which shared norms and values in one country differ from those in another country, and employ a modified gravity specification to examine whether such cultural differences affect the volume of trade flows. Employing data for US state-level exports to the 75 trading partners for which measures of cultural distance can be constructed, we find that greater cultural differences between the United States and a trading partner reduces state-level exports to that country. This result holds for aggregate exports, cultural and noncultural products exports as well, but with significantly different magnitudes. Immigrants are found to exert a pro-export effect that partially offsets the trade-inhibiting effects of cultural distance.
AB - We introduce 'cultural distance' as a measure of the degree to which shared norms and values in one country differ from those in another country, and employ a modified gravity specification to examine whether such cultural differences affect the volume of trade flows. Employing data for US state-level exports to the 75 trading partners for which measures of cultural distance can be constructed, we find that greater cultural differences between the United States and a trading partner reduces state-level exports to that country. This result holds for aggregate exports, cultural and noncultural products exports as well, but with significantly different magnitudes. Immigrants are found to exert a pro-export effect that partially offsets the trade-inhibiting effects of cultural distance.
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U2 - 10.1080/13504850701719983
DO - 10.1080/13504850701719983
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:70949108128
SN - 1350-4851
VL - 17
SP - 147
EP - 152
JO - Applied Economics Letters
JF - Applied Economics Letters
IS - 2
ER -