With respect to our ASEAN binary variables,
we note that being part of ASEAN as a regional
grouping does indeed matter (the estimated
coefficient on the ASEAN binary variable is
0.879); ASEAN countries do tend to trade more
with each other, controlling for all other variables.
This would suggest that both countries’ being in
ASEAN, ceteris paribus, increases bilateral trade
by approximately 140 per cent (exp(.88)–1 = 140 per
cent) than would have been expected otherwise.
Moreover, just being an ASEAN country makes a
difference (estimated coefficient = 0.738), though
this effect is somewhat less important than the
“both in” effect.