Cultural distance as a determinant of bilateral trade flows: do immigrants counter the effect of cultural differences?

摘要: We introduce ‘cultural distance’ as a measure of the degree to which shared norms and values in one country differ from those another country, employ modified gravity specification examine whether such cultural differences affect volume trade flows. Employing data for US state-level exports 75 trading partners measures distance can be constructed, we find that greater between United States partner reduces country. This result holds aggregate exports, noncultural products well, but with significantly different magnitudes. Immigrants are found exert pro-export effect partially offsets trade-inhibiting effects distance.