| This dissertation employs the gravity model to analyze the development of textile & clothing (T & C) trade patterns among countries. Until recently, the gravity model has been mainly applied to aggregated data with cross-sectional or time-series data estimation techniques to analyze trading statistics. Here, the conventional gravity model is revised to separately analyze T & C products. The panel data estimation approach is also utilized to determine the factors that affect global T & C trade flows.;The results of a regression analysis show that the modified gravity model can be adopted to identify the markets for T & C products and more importantly, supports attributes of the conventional model. First, the development of global T & C trade flows is characterized beginning in the 1950s, where T & C exporters divert from North America and Western Europe to Japan. Then, there was a shift from Japan to the Asian Big Three in the 1970s and early 1980s. In the late 1980s and beginning of 1990s, a third migration occurred from the Asian Big Three to other Asian developing economies.;Then, the impacts of country-specific social and political determinants as well as economic indicators that relate to T & C trade flows are investigated for global, regional and specific exporters. The gravity model is applied to explain T & C trade flow variations for these three exporters, which reveal that the impacts of ascribed factors on T & C trade are as expected and statistically significant.;The model is then subjected to a panel data analysis to investigate the fixed effects over time for each scenario, exploring the changes and enlarging the quality and quantity of data manipulation which would otherwise be impossible by cross sectional or time series estimation alone.;Finally, instrumental variables with country fixed effects in the gravity model are applied to explain the endogeneity of Chinese T & C exports, which identifies that the emergence of China in T & C trade has significant impacts on other Asian countries. It is concluded that China affects the export performances of its neighboring Asian countries. |
