Gravity Models in R
Abstract
Gravity models are used to explain bilateral flows related to the sizes of bilateral partners, a measure of distance between them and other influences on interaction costs. The underlying idea is rather simple. The greater the masses of two bodies and the smaller the distance between them, the stronger they attract each other. This concept is applied to several research topics such as trade, migration or foreign direct investment. Even though the basic idea of gravity models is rather simple, they can become very complex when it comes to the choice of models or estimation methods. The package \textbf{gravity} targets to provide \proglang{R} users with the functions necessary to execute the most common estimation methods for gravity models, especially for cross-sectional data.
Gravitätsmodelle werden verwendet, um bilaterale Ströme zu erklären. Dabei werden sowohl die Größen und die Distanz der jeweiligen Partner als auch weitere Einflussfaktoren zur Erklärung herangezogen. Die zugrundeliegende Idee dieser Modelle beruht auf dem Gravitätsprinzip. Je schwerer zwei Körper und je kleiner deren Distanz zueinander, desto stärker ist ihre gegenseitige Anziehungskraft. Dieses Konzept wird auf verschiedene Forschungsreiche angewendet, so zum Beispiel Handel, Migration und ausländische Direktinvestitionen. Auch wenn die zugrundeliegende Idee von Gravitätsmodellen eher einfach ist, so kann deren Schätzung je nach Wahl des zugrundegelegten ökonomischen Zusammenhangs komplex werden. Das Paket \textbf{gravity} ermöglicht es \proglang{R}-Nutzern die gängigsten Verfahren für Gravitätsmodelle in der Querschnittsanalyse zu verwenden.
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