# **Spatial variables**

As explained in detail in section 3, three different neighborhood weights matrices (referred to in the main text as **W1** , **W2** and **W3** ) were used to construct variables measuring the weighted average growth rate of a country's neighbors. The contiguity data used to construct **W1** is from the Correlates of War (COW) v 3.1 direct contiguity dataset and was downloaded from <u>www.correlatesofwar.org/COW2%20Data/dDDirect Contiguity/DCV3desc.htm. Meanwhile, the weights in</u> **W2** are based on the weighted average of the bilateral distances between cities of population greater than 100,000 in countries _i_ and _j_ . The population data used to identify these cities is from the Global Rural Urban Mapping Project (GRUMP) database, Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), the Earth Institute, Columbia University. This data was downloaded from <u>http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/gpw/. Distances between cities are</u> measured using the great circle method. Finally, the regional trade agreement (RTA) data used to construct **W3** was kindly supplied by Souylemane Coulibaly and was originally sourced from the World Trade Organization. The RTAs included in **W3** are listed in table A1 below.

**Table A1: List** **<u>of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) included in the definition of W3</u>**

**Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)** , **Arab Maghreb Union (AMU)** , Arab Free-Trade Area (ArFTA), Australia New Zealand Closer Economic Agreement (ANZCERTA), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Baltic Free-Trade Area (BAFTA), Bangkok agreement (BANGKOK), Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), **Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gul f (C CASG)** , **Central Ame rican C ommon Market (C ACM)** , **Andean Communi ty (CAN)** , **Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM)** , **Central Europe an Free-T rade Agreem ent (CEFTA)** , **Economic and Monetar y Community of Central Africa (CEMAC)** , Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), **Common Market for Eastern and So uthern Africa (COME SA)** , East African Community (EAC), Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC), European Union (EU), **European Cooperation Organisation (ECO)** , **Economic Community of West A frican States (ECOWAS)** , **European Eco nomic Area (EEA)** , European Free Trade Association (EFTA), General System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP), Latin American Integration Association (LAIA), **Southern Common Marke t (MERCOSUR)** , Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), **North Amer ican Free-Trade Agree ment (NAFTA)** , Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT), Agreement on Trade and Commercial Relations between the Government of Australia and the Government of Papua New Guinea (PATCRA), Protocol Relating to Trade Negotiations among Developing Countries (PTN), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU), **Southern African Development Com munity (SADC)** , **SAARC Pre ferential Trad ing Agree ment (SAPTA)** , **South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Cooper ation Agree ment (SP ARTECA)** , Tripartite Agreement <u>(TRIPARTITE),</u> **<u>West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU)</u>**

The agreements listed correspond to those which have been notified to GATT/the WTO and which were in force as of 13 October 2003. RTAs which are considered to be more prominent are in bold.

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