Exploring the relationships between maritime connectivity, international trade and domestic production

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to simultaneously analyse the complex relationships between bilateral maritime connectivity, bilateral trade and domestic production as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. This is achieved by applying non-recursive models and Path Analysis (PA). The top ten best maritime connected countries and their 155 trading partners are selected for the analysis. The components of maritime connectivity, maritime distance, and gravity variables are selected as instrumental variables to analyse the reciprocal relationship between export/import of ten countries and the GDP per capita of their 155 trading partners. The results confirm the reciprocal relationship between export values (that are the import values of trading partners) and GDP per capita, whereas a reciprocal relationship between import values (that are the export values of trading partners) and GDP per capita does not exist. The results also confirm the complexity of the relationships between maritime connectivity, trade and economic growth and that, compared to components of maritime connectivity, none of the gravity variables have a positive impact on bilateral trade. The results suggest that economic policy and trade policy at the global, regional, and national level should recognize the need for, and foster, better maritime connectivity.

Opportunities for sustainable economic development in coastal territories of the Baltic Sea Region in the context of digital transformation

“…This indicates that economic activities are mainly taking place in the in land, landlocked territories of the BSR countries. This contradicts the idea of the positive impact of the coastal location and direct access to the sea on the economic growth and development of territories, proved in a recent study based on the maritime shipping data [42].…”

Reconfiguring maritime networks due to the Belt and Road Initiative: impact on bilateral trade flows

“…The traditional gravity model of trade has been applied to analyse the influence of potential improvements in bilateral maritime connectivity, brought about by the BRI, on the bilateral exports of these nine countries and their 128 maritime trading partners. Justified by previous research which proved that the minimum number of required transhipments is the most influential variable in terms of its significance and magnitude (see Hoffmann et al 2020;Saeed et al 2020), the value of this variable has been changed in two plausible scenarios to reflect the potential improvement in maritime connectivity brought about by the BRI.…”

Denizyolu Dış Ticareti ile GSYİH ve Yapı Sektörü Arasındaki İlişkilerin İncelenmesine Yönelik Türkiye Örneği

“…Also, it played a major role in the country's recovery from the economic crisis. Saeed et al (2021) compared maritime exports and imports with GDP per capita. While a two-way relationship was found between maritime exports and per capita income, no relationship was found between maritime imports and per capita income.…”