An Analysis of the Effect of Trading Countries’ Cultural Characteristics on Food Trade

The previous studies have suggested that the cultural characteristics of a country could affect consumer preference attitude toward innovation and international trade. To examine this effect, Hofstede’s multidimensional index of national culture has been popularly used. This paper focuses on the question of how the Hofstede individual cultural indices affect the international food trade using a gravity equation. The results show that the individual cultural characteristics have different effects on the food trade. An increase in the power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity index is negatively related to food exports, while an increase in the individualism and indulgence index is positively correlated with food exports. On the other hand, the power distance, and masculinity index have been positively related to the food imports, whereas individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and indulgence index have been negatively related to the food imports. Considering the magnitude of the effects in each index, we find that high uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation, and masculinity index restrain the food trade, while the high power distance index tends to increase food imports. Finally, individualism and indulgence index have a greater effect on food exports than imports.