Table 1 Variable definition and measurement
From: Effects of free trade on export efficiency of COMESA member-states
Variables | Symbols | Measurement | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
Exports | \(X_{ijt}\) | Aggregated annual bilateral merchandise export value in current thousand US$ | WITS (2023) |
Exporter’s per capita GDP | \(\ln GDPPC_{it}\) | Log of annual exporter per capita income in current thousand US$ | WB (2023) |
Importer’s per capita GDP | \(\ln GDPPC_{jt}\) | Log of annual importer per capita income in current thousand US$ | WB (2023) |
Exporter’s GDP | \(\ln GDP_{it}\) | Log of annual exporter GDP at current thousand US$ | WB (2023) |
Importer’s GDP | \(\ln GDP_{jt}\) | Log of annual importer GDP at current thousand US$ | WB (2023) |
Distance | \(\ln Dist_{ij}\) | Log of distance between the importer and the exporter | CEPII (2023) |
Contiguity | \(Border_{ij}\) | Dummy: = 1, if the importer and exporter share a common border; = 0, if otherwise | CEPII (2023) |
Language | \(Lang_{ij}\) | Dummy: = 1, if the exporter shares a common official language with the importer; = 0, if otherwise | CEPII (2023) |
COMESA_FTA | \(COMESA_{fta}\) | Is a dummy variable for FTA membership, taking the value 1 if the country is a member of the COMESA FTA agreement and 0, if otherwise | Dummy variable |
Regqual | \(Regqual_{ij}\) | Index measuring the strictness of the rules of origin | WB (2023) |
Export Inefficiency | \(Expeff_{ijt}\) | The extent to which actual exports falls short of the potential exports | Authors’ own calculation |