Notes on CEPII’s Distances Measures: The GeoDist Database

TLDR

GeoDist supplies an exhaustive set of gravity variables, including city‑level bilateral distances that capture the geographic distribution of population within each nation, building on the framework of Mayer and Zignago (2005). The authors aim to enhance existing datasets by expanding geographical coverage, improving measurement quality, and increasing the number of variables available. GeoDist offers two files—country‑specific (geo_cepii) and dyadic (dist_cepii)—containing various distance measures and common dummy variables (e.g., colonial ties, shared languages, contiguity) for use in gravity equations. The database includes bilateral distance measures for 225 countries, with intra‑national distance calculations available for most of them.

Abstract

GeoDist makes available the exhaustive set of gravity variables used in Mayer and Zignago (2005). GeoDist provides several geographical variables, in particular bilateral distances measured using citylevel data to assess the geographic distribution of population inside each nation. We have calculated different measures of bilateral distances available for most countries across the world (225 countries in the current version of the database). For most of them, different calculations of "intra-national distances" are also available. The GeoDist webpage provides two distinct files: a country-specific one (geo_cepii) and a dyadic one (dist_cepii) including a set of different distance and common dummy variables used in gravity equations to identify particular links between countries such as colonial past, common languages, contiguity. We try to improve upon the existing similar datasets in terms of geographical coverage, quality of measurement and number of variables provided.