Deploying Machine Learning Methods to Predict Global Trade Patterns: The Case of Beef

Highlights Machine Learning (ML) methods are offered as an alternative to conventional techniques for understanding global commodity trade. A formal comparison is made between ML results with those from the Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) Estimator, which is the most commonly used statistical technique for bilateral trade analysis. PPML takes into account fixed effects and the dynamic nature of panel data to provide a better fit and higher prediction accuracy than ML in the context of in-sample forecasts. ML methods have strengths in feature selection, better validation statistics, and stronger predictive power than PPML, especially with out-of-sample forecasts. Abstract. In international economics, there has been a steady stream of innovations to explain patterns of trade between and among countries with emerging techniques. The most recent - Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimator – corrects for a potential bias caused by the large proportion of zero observations in bilateral trade data. Alternatively, this study offers Machine Learning (ML) as an option, especially in the presence of finer data on bilateral trade patterns. Using monthly and HS-6-digit (product) level data, the study finds that the main advantage of PPML is its accuracy of forecasts in-sample, but feature selection is somewhat rigid due to the inclusion of a large number of pair-wise fixed effects. ML models have the advantage in selecting features when a long list of explanatory variables is to be considered. Model validation statistics such as MAE and RMSE favor ML methods, but PPML tends to yield higher goodness of fit. In the out-of-sample context, ML has better accuracy than PPML, and a one-step walk-forward ML approach further improves the accuracy of ML forecasts. While PPML has a rich research and application history, emerging ML techniques have sufficient room for improvement in their adaptation to economic analysis. Keywords: Beef, Bilateral Trade, Boosting, Machine learning, ML for Policy