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On the geography of trade : distance is alive and well

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Author Info
Carrere, Celine
Schiff, Maurice

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Abstract

It has been widely argued that, with the decline in trade costs (for example, transport and communication costs), the importance of distance has declined over time. If so, this would be a boon for countries located far from the main centers of economic activity. The authors examine the evolution of countries'distance of trade (DOT) from 1962-2000. They find that the DOT falls over time for the average country in the world, and that the number of countries with declining DOT is close to double those with increasing DOT. Thus, distance has become more important over time for a majority of countries. The authors examine various hypotheses to explain this phenomenon. One conclusion is that the evolution of the DOT is unrelated to that of the overall trade costs but depends on the relative evolution of its components. The authors also examine the impact on the DOT of changes in production, customs, and domestic transport costs; air relative to land and ocean transport costs; competition, exchange rate policy, regional integration, uneven growth, and counter-season trade; and just-in-time inventory management. An interesting finding is that, though regional integration has a negative impact on the DOT, the countries forming trade blocs had a DOT that was growing faster or falling more slowly than that of excluded countries. The authors also offer some insights into how these changes may affect the home bias in consumption and the border effect.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 3206.

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Date of creation: 01 Feb 2004
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3206

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Keywords: Trade Policy; Economic Theory&Research; Environmental Economics&Policies; Common Carriers Industry; Transport and Trade Logistics; Economic Theory&Research; TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT; Common Carriers Industry; Trade Policy; Environmental Economics&Policies;

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Mauricio Cárdenas SantaMaría & Camilo García Jimeno, 2004. "El modelo gravitacional y el TLC entre Colombia y Estados Unidos," WORKING PAPERS SERIES. DOCUMENTOS DE TRABAJO 002527, FEDESARROLLO. [Downloadable!]
  2. Cortes, Maria, 2007. "Examining Patterns of Bilateral Trade between Australia and Colombia by Using Cointegration Analysis and Error-Correction Models," Economics Working Papers wp07-20, School of Economics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia. [Downloadable!]
  3. Cortes, Maria, 2007. "Composition of Trade between Australia and Latin America: Gravity Model," Economics Working Papers wp07-19, School of Economics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia. [Downloadable!]
  4. de Melo, Jaime & Grether, Jean-Marie & Mathys, Nicole Andréa, 2007. "Trade, Technique and Composition Effects: What is Behind the Fall in World-wide SO2 Emissions, 1990-2000?," CEPR Discussion Papers 6522, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Claus-Friedrich Laaser & Klaus Schrader, 2004. "The Baltic States' Integration into the European Division of Labour," Kiel Working Papers 1234, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. [Downloadable!]
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