Analyzing the Impacts of Mongolia’s Trade Costs

The objective of the analysis is to review the current status of Mongolia's trade pattern and carry out an analysis of the trade costs currently incurred by Mongolia. In particular, the authors aim at examining the factors that increase the costs of trade between Mongolia and its trading partners. This analysis employed a gravity model (AvW) to estimate the effects on trade volume. In addition, the study aimed at examining the effects of the accessibility for Mongolian export goods to major trading partner countries via Tianjin port, China. In particular, ten trading partner countries of Mongolia were selected for analysis. The first three sections analyze Mongolia's trade and transport patterns. Section 4 gives information on data collection, and in Section 5 the estimations of the impacts on trade costs using regression functions and the gravity model are described. Finally, Section 6 concludes the paper and gives some policy recommendations.