Gravity Equations

Universität Kiel — Sommersemester 2018

"Gravity has long been one of the most successful empirical models in economics, ordering remarkably well the enormous observed variation in economic interaction across space in both trade and factor movements." — James E. Anderson

“The equation has [...] gone from an embarrassing poverty of theoretical foundations to an embarrassment of riches!" — Jeffrey A. Frankel

Suggested literature:


→ link to cited papers

Preliminary schedule and course material:

  1. Session: Introduction and stylized facts (June 6, 2018)
  2. Session: Theoretical foundations — Part 1 (June 6, 2018)
  3. Session: Theoretical foundations — Part 2 (June 13, 2018)
  4. Session: Theoretical foundations — Part 3 (June 13, 2018)
  5. Session: Firms and the gains from trade — Part 1 (June 20, 2018)
  6. Session: Firms and the gains from trade — Part 2 (June 20, 2018)
  7. Session: Estimating gravity equations — Part 1 (June 27 2018)
  8. Session: Estimating gravity equations — Part 2 (June 27 2018)
  9. Session: Estimating gravity equations — Part 3 (July 4 2018)
  10. Session: Estimating gravity equations — Part 4 (July 4 2018)
  11. Session: Gravity beyond trade — Part 1 (July 11, 2018)
  12. Session: Gravity beyond trade — Part 2 (July 11, 2018)