The position of countries in the world, in terms of continents, neighborhood, and so on may matter much more\nthan we usually think when we want to determine business and economic performance, and hence trade and\neconomic integration. In this study we want to test the hypothesis that the nations at zero distance (neighbors) to\nthe exporting country overwhelmingly determine trade between all of them. We then test this hypothesis with the\nrelevant data of all nations in the world and with the data of the major regions of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Americas.\nThe econometric results based on panel data techniques (such as fixed and random effects as well as GMM) and\nthe gravity model very clearly and robustly confirm our hypothesis that we can say with almost certainty that ââ?¬Å?tell me\nhow many and who your neighbors and continents are and we will tell you how much you can exportââ?¬Â. Furthermore\nregional integration is directly and indirectly included in the empirics. Thus, we can see how countries like France\nand Germany, or like Portugal and Greece perform in terms of exports in Europe. Good examples of countries which\nhave many neighbors and create their own gravity center are Germany in Europe and China in Asia.
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