ASEAN trade in manufactures: a study in complementarity, special country bias, and trade intensity
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1986-05
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Abstract
This paper analyzes trade intensity in manufacturers within ASEAN. Two countries trade more or less intensively with each other than they do with the rest of the world because of the degree of complementarity and the degree of special country bias. Complementarity measures the extent to which one country's export pattern matches another country's import pattern more closely than it matches the pattern of world imports. Special country bias has been defined to include the trading partners' geographical proximity and special institutional and historical ties. Complementarity and special country bias together determine the intensity of trade.
Results show that ASEAN countries are trading in manufacturers among themselves to a considerable intensity mainly because of a high degree of special country bias. The high degree of special country bias is largely attributed to geographical proximity among individual ASEAN countries. The low degree of complementarity which characterizes intra-ASEAN trade in manufactures shows that ASEAN countries' export patterns do not match their import patterns more closely than they match the pattern of world imports in manufactures.