International trade relationships in EU countries through multidimensional scaling during the years 1996–2012

Abstract

International trade is one of the most important parts of economic integration and globalization. Thus it is crucial to study the development of international trade relationships in order to follow and understand every score and reasons behind it. In this article, multidimensional scaling analysis is performed in order to investigate the evolution of international trade relationships in the EU countries in 1996– 2012. The results show that the evolution of trade relationships among EU countries is not entirely homogeneous. Different country groups arise regarding different variables, such as geographical location or being former members of the same economic or political union.