Measurement of the Impacts of the Technical Barriers to Trade on Vegetable Export of China — An Empirical Study Based on the Gravity Model

Abstract

With the residue limits of pesticides in vegetables as the indication, the present paper employs the gravity model to measure the impacts of the technical barriers to trade on vegetable export of China. The analysis shows that the residue limits of the pesticides in vegetables set by Japan, US and EU have apparent negative impacts on the vegetable export of China. The vegetable export of China decreases by 4.16% with the rise in the strictness of residue limits by 10%. On the other hand, to raise the strictness in residue limits of pesticides in vegetables in China has some positive impacts on the vegetable export of China. The reversed transmission of the affirmative list policy of Japan, despite its apparent short-term repressive impacts on the vegetable export of China, has positive impacts on the vegetable export of China as a whole to the US, European and Japanese markets.
Key words: The technical barriers to trade; The gravity model; The vegetable export