International trade, religion, and political freedom: an empirical investigation
by Rock-Antoine Mehanna
Global Business and Economics Review (GBER), Vol. 5, No. 2, 2003

Abstract: This paper explores the impact of religion (Islam), culture, and political freedom on bilateral trade flows by employing an augmented version of the gravity model. A stratified global sample of thirty-three countries for the period 1996-99 is selected. Unlike past studies that used gravity models to estimate ''separately'' the impact of religion, culture, or language on trade in a categorised framework such as the Organization of Islamic Countries, this study investigates the effects of religion, culture, and political freedom in one model and within a global framework. After controlling for oil-exporting countries and regional trade arrangements, findings reveal that, on average, Muslim majority countries trade less than their Christian, Buddhist, or other counterparts. Results also reveal that countries with more political freedom and English language affiliation (a proxy for one aspect of culture) tend to trade more than the model predicts.

Online publication date: Mon, 07-Feb-2005

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the Global Business and Economics Review (GBER):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com