CEECs Integration into Regional and Global Production Networks

This paper examines the involvement of the CEECs into regional and global production networks over the period 1999 to 2009. We employ a theoretically justified gravity model which incorporates the extensive margin of trade and accounts for firm heterogeneity. We first estimate the model for highly disaggregated exports (SITC 5-digits) in final goods, and then augment it by including the corresponding imported intermediate products from the OECD together with the usual control variables. Next, we estimate the model for each trade margin (extensive and intensive) separately to evaluate the effects of economic integration on exports and imports of each category of goods. Our results indicate that the CEECs have indeed become more integrated into regional production networks and this has had a positive impact in terms of increasing trade volumes and trade varieties between the two parts of the European continent