The impact of global regional trade agreement network centrality on exports_Readme_Replication

1. Research hypothesis and findings.
Since the 1990s, regional trade agreements (RTAs) have increasingly evolved into complex global networks. We hypothesize that a country’s embeddedness in these RTA networks-measured by network centrality - enhances its export performance by fostering technical progress and strengthening comparative advantages. Using a gravity model with global RTA data from 2010 to 2021, we find that higher RTA network centrality significantly promotes exports. The positive effects are particularly strong for countries with stable hub positions, a greater number of agreements with partner countries, and closer geographical proximity.
2. Description of the data.
The dataset combines publicly available sources on global RTAs and trade flows. It contains both raw and cleaned versions of the data, as well as constructed variables that capture RTA depth, breadth, and network centrality measures. All variable definitions, construction methods, and data sources are described in detail in the accompanying Replication Package README file.
3. How to interpret and use the data.
The uploaded zip archive (The impact of global regional trade agreement network centrality on exports_Readme_Replication.zip) includes four folders:
(1) data - containing raw datasets and cleaned datasets used in the analysis.
(2) do file - including the Stata script (Code-EMR-Replication.do), which reproduces all empirical results.
(3) README Replication - providing detailed documentation of variables, data construction, sources, and replication steps.
(4) results - including all empirical outputs (Tables 1-10, Figures 1-3, Appendix Tables 1-4).
These materials allow other researchers to understand the structure of the dataset, replicate the analysis line by line, and extend the study to new contexts.

1. 研究假设与研究发现。
自20世纪90年代以来，区域贸易协定（Regional Trade Agreements，RTAs）逐步演化为复杂的全球网络。我们提出研究假设：一国在RTAs网络中的嵌入程度——以网络中心性（network centrality）衡量——通过推动技术进步、强化比较优势，提升其出口表现。本研究基于2010-2021年全球RTAs数据，采用引力模型（gravity model）进行实证分析，结果显示更高的RTAs网络中心性能够显著促进出口。对于拥有稳定枢纽地位、与伙伴国签署更多贸易协定且地理距离更邻近的国家而言，这一正向促进效应尤为显著。
2. 数据集说明。
本数据集整合了全球RTAs与贸易流量的公开数据源，包含原始数据与清洗后数据，同时包含用于刻画RTAs深度、广度及网络中心性的构建变量。所有变量定义、构建方法与数据来源均在随附的复现包README文件中详细说明。
3. 数据解读与使用方法。
本次上传的压缩归档文件（The impact of global regional trade agreement network centrality on exports_Readme_Replication.zip）包含四个文件夹：
(1) data文件夹：存放本研究分析所用的原始数据集与清洗后数据集；
(2) do file文件夹：包含可复现所有实证结果的Stata脚本文件（Code-EMR-Replication.do）；
(3) README Replication文件夹：提供变量定义、数据构建方法、数据来源及复现步骤的详细文档；
(4) results文件夹：包含所有实证产出结果（表1至表10、图1至图3以及附录表1至表4）。
上述材料可供其他科研人员明晰数据集结构、逐行复现本研究的实证分析，并将该研究拓展至全新的研究场景中。