The Spatial Correlation and Driving Mechanism of Wood-Based Products Trade Network in RCEP Countries

Abstract

Clarifying the spatial correlation and driving mechanism of wood-based products trade network is conducive to promoting the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to a higher level. Firstly, we explored the characteristics of spatial correlation and evolution tendency of raw material-type wood-based products trade network (TN-WFPM) and product-type wood-based products trade network (TN-WFPP) from the overall characteristics, centrality, and node coreness of the networks according to social network analysis method. Then we analyzed the driving mechanism of the spatial correlation according to the quadratic assignment procedure (QAP). The results show that, compared with TN-WFPM, the density, reciprocity, and agglomeration of the TN-WFPP are relatively stronger. The centrality and evolution characteristics of RCEP countries are different in the networks. The coreness of China and Thailand in the TN-WFPP has always been in the top two, while the coreness of China, Japan, and Korea has increased significantly and China has been the top since 2010 in the TN-WFPM. Factors like cultural distance, forest resource endowment, forest certification area, economic scale, economic distance, and free trade agreements (FTA) have significant impacts on the spatial correlation of wood-based products trade among RCEP countries. Furthermore, the impacts of different factors on the two kinds of networks are heterogeneous.

Uncovering the Effect of Forest Certification on the Dynamic Evolution of the Global Log Trade Network: A Stochastic Actor-Oriented Model Approach

“…This is the same as the research conclusions of Zhou [28]. Moreover, an FTA significant positively affects the formation of log trade ties (0.0122, p < 0.1), indicating that when countries are located in the same FTA, it is easier to establish trade ties, and this conclusion further confirms the existing research of Zhou et al [2].…”

“…and on the other hand, they have affected the strength of trade ties, causing changes in the structure of the log import and export trade proportions of countries, thus impacting the dynamic evolution of the GLTN. In addition, forest certification is a manifestation of a country's forest sustainable management ability [2]. The certified area represents a country's forest resource endowment level to a certain extent; that is, countries with more certified forest areas may have relatively rich forest resources.…”

“…The trade data came from the United Nations Commodity Trade Database. Referring to the research of Wang et al [19], the data with a trading volume greater than USD 10,000 were recorded as 1, which signifies the existence of trade ties between the two countries, while the data with a trading volume less than USD 10,000 were recorded as 0, which means there is no trade tie between the two countries [2]. Furthermore, due to the fact that missing reports and inconsistent statistical calibers exist when reported to the United Nations, this paper used the method of cross-validating the export data and import data to check for gaps and make up for any omissions.…”

“…As an essential wooden forest product, logs have obvious resource attributes, and their supply directly depends on a country's forest resource endowment. However, the global forest resources are unevenly distributed [2]. At the same time, international trade can promote the cross-regional flow of forest products [3], thus alleviating the contradiction between supply and demand, and helping the economic construction of each country to a certain extent [4].…”

“…At this stage, the research on the log trade network either starts from the traditional network centrality index and analyzes the network's topological structure [2] or uses block models and motif discovery algorithms to analyze the microtrading model and community structure of the network [11]. Thus, there are few pieces of literature involving the impact of forest certification on the evolution of the GLTN.…”