Effects of information and communication technology and relationship network on international trade

Abstract

We argued that the there exists information cost in international trade. Information and communication technology, relationship network play an important role in decreasing the information cost of international trade, thus facilitating trade as a result. We use Asian overseas Chinese network to test our assumptions. We found that the role of relationship network is more important than information and communication technology, in addition, the improvement of information and communication technology will worsen the positive effect that the Asian overseas Chinese network on China's import, but has no obvious effect on China's export. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.