Somatic Distance, Cultural Affinities, Trust and Trade

21 Pages Posted: 1 May 2018

See all articles by Jacques Melitz

Jacques Melitz

National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) - Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Farid Toubal

Université Paris Dauphine; Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Info. Internationales (CEPII); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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Date Written: April 2018

Abstract

Somatic distance, or differences in physical appearance, proves to be extremely important in the gravity model of bilateral trade in conformity with results in other areas of economics and outside of it in the social sciences. This is also true quite independently of survey evidence about bilateral trust. These findings are obtained in a sample of the 15 members of the European Economic Association in 1996. Robustness tests also show that somatic distance has a more reliable influence on bilateral trade than the other cultural variables. The article finally discusses the interpretation and the breadth of application of these results.

Keywords: Bilateral Trade, Cultural interactions, Language, Somatic distance, Trust

JEL Classification: F10, F40, Z10

Suggested Citation

Melitz, Jacques and Toubal, Farid, Somatic Distance, Cultural Affinities, Trust and Trade (April 2018). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP12895, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3171163

Jacques Melitz (Contact Author)

National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) - Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST) ( email )

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Malakoff Cedex, 1 92245
France
+331 41 17 60 46 (Phone)
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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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Farid Toubal

Université Paris Dauphine ( email )

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Paris, Cedex 16 75775
France

Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Info. Internationales (CEPII) ( email )

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France

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

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