An Empirical Study on International Trade in Cultural Goods

         
Author Name JINJI Naoto  (Kyoto University) /TANAKA Ayumu  (Research Associate, RIETI)
Creation Date/NO. September 2013 13-J-059
Research Project Comprehensive Research on the Current International Trade System
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Abstract

In this study, we overview the current situation of international trade in creative goods and investigate the determinants of trade in cultural goods. According to the statistical data provided by the United Nations, China is currently the world's largest exporter of creative goods and also sustains the world's largest trade surplus in creative goods. Although the United States is the second largest exporter of creative goods, it records the largest trade deficit in creative goods. Japan runs the second largest trade deficit in creative goods. We then analyze the determinants of trade in cultural goods by using the gravity model. We find that a ratification of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Convention on Cultural Diversity (CCD) is positively correlated with the volume of exports of cultural goods at a statistically significant level and that ratification of the CCD is also positively correlated with the volume of imports of cultural goods for World Trade Organization (WTO) members. We cannot find evidence that the CCD works as a trade barrier for cultural goods.