From a centrally planned economy to an economy in transition: the effects on regional patterns of corn exports in Serbia

This study investigates the regional structure of corn exports of Serbia over the period 1986 to 2009 with the main purpose to reveal how the Serbian corn sector has been affected by break-up of former centrally planned economies focusing on changes in the geographical patterns of its corn exports. The main part of the study is devoted to an in-depth analysis of the main drivers behind the manifested trends in the regional patterns of Serbian corn exports over the last 25 years. Corn has been Serbia’s biggest single commodity which had a crucial role for agricultural trade. A gravity model is developed to empirically analyze the factors that affected Serbian corn exports with the aim on accounting for the relevant political, economic and social events that took place in Serbia since the collapse of communism and transition process in the whole region. Consideration was given to investigating the impact of GDP, per capita GDP, distance and ratio of relative prices, as explanatory variables. In addition, the model specification has been augmented through the addition of other variables that are thought to impact on Serbian corn export flows such as dummy variables for sanctions, collapse of centrally planned economies, common language and free trade agreements.