Hong Kong’s “Super-Connector” Role in Managing Global Clothing Supply Chains Under the Belt and Road Initiative: An Extended Gravity Model Analysis

The United States’ Clothing Imports from Asian Countries along the Belt and Road: An Extended Gravity Trade Model with Application of Artificial Neural Network

“…With the BRI as an ongoing endeavor in which more infrastructure projects are launched and completed and business opportunities continue to materialize, developing countries along the B&R can enhance their attractiveness for FDI in trade-led manufacturing and improve their competitiveness in global trade. The past few years have witnessed a growth in FDI from China injected into the textile and clothing industry in Asian countries including Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Vietnam [32,44]. This trend of relocation of clothing production has driven higher exports from these countries to the US.…”

“…The results of these studies support the proposition that greater GDP facilitates trade, whereas longer distance reduces trade. Depending upon the research objectives, past studies have developed extended (also called augmented) gravity models [32], which include (1) economic variables like the gross national product (GNP), per capita GDP, per capita GNP, consumer price index, FDI, rate of inflation, exchange rate, and membership in a free trade area; (2) geographical variables like common borders, landlocked, remoteness, land area, transport time, time difference, population size, and population growth; (3) social variables like common language, religion, and literacy rate; and (4) political variables like colonial link and political stability, among others [33].…”