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On the conservation of distance in international trade

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Author Info
Berthelon, Matias
Freund, Caroline

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Abstract

The volume of world trade has grown more than twice as fast as real world income since 1980. Surprisingly, the effect of distance on trade has increased during this period. It could be that countries are trading greater volumes of goods that are highly sensitive to distance. An alternative explanation is that distance has become more import for a significant share of goods. Using highly disaggregated bilateral trade data, the authors find that adjustment in the composition of trade has not influenced the way in which distance affects trade. In contrast, for about 25 percent of industries, distance has become more important. This implies that the increased distance sensitivity of trade is a result of a change in relative trade costs that affects many industries, as opposed to a shift to more distance-sensitive products. The authors also find that homogeneous products are twice as likely to have become more distance sensitive as compared with differentiated goods. This is consistent with the hypothesis that falling search costs, resulting from improvements in transport and communications, are relatively more important for differentiated goods. The results offer no evidence of the"death of distance."Rather, they suggest that distance-related relative trade costs have remained unchanged or shifted in favor of proximate markets.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 3293.

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Date of creation: 01 May 2004
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3293

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Keywords: Economic Theory&Research; Environmental Economics&Policies; Standards and Technical Regulations; Common Carriers Industry; Trade Policy; Common Carriers Industry; Economic Theory&Research; TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATIONADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT; Environmental Economics&Policies; Trade Policy;

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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.:
  1. Maurice Obstfeld & Kenneth Rogoff, 2000. "The Six Major Puzzles in International Macroeconomics: Is There a Common Cause?," NBER Working Papers 7777, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Rauch, James E., 1999. "Networks versus markets in international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 7-35, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Edward E. Leamer & Michael Storper, 2001. "The Economic Geography of the Internet Age," NBER Working Papers 8450, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Carolyn Evans & James Harrigan, 2003. "Distance, time, and specialization," International Finance Discussion Papers 766, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
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  5. Charles Engel & John H. Rogers, 1996. "Regional patterns in the law of one price: the roles of geography vs. currencies," International Finance Discussion Papers 533, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
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  6. Freund, Caroline L. & Weinhold, Diana, 2004. "The effect of the Internet on international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 171-189, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2003. "Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 170-192, March. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Leamer, Edward E. & Levinsohn, James, 1995. "International trade theory: The evidence," Handbook of International Economics, in: G. M. Grossman & K. Rogoff (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 26, pages 1339-1394 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2004. "Trade Costs," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 691-751, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Jonathan Eaton & Samuel Kortum, 2002. "Technology, Geography, and Trade," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(5), pages 1741-1779, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Rikhil Bhavnani & David T. Coe & Arvind Subramanian & Natalia T. Tamirisa, 2002. "The Missing Globalization Puzzle," IMF Working Papers 02/171, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
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(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. Head, Charles Keith & Mayer, Thierry & Ries, John, 2007. "How Remote is the Offshoring Threat?," CEPR Discussion Papers 6542, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. 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!]
  3. Natalie Chen & Dennis Novy, 2009. "International Trade Integration: A Disaggregated Approach," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Gert-Jan M. Linders & Arjen Slangen & Henri L.F. de Groot & Sjoerd Beugelsdijk, 2005. "Cultural and Institutional Determinants of Bilateral Trade Flows," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-074/3, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
  5. Boriss Siliverstovs & Dieter Schumacher, 2008. "Disaggregated Trade Flows and the “Missing Globalization Puzzle”," KOF Working papers 08-209, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Duranton, Gilles & Storper, Michael, 2005. "Rising Trade Costs? Agglomeration and Trade with Endogenous Transaction Costs," CEPR Discussion Papers 4933, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. David S. Jacks & Christopher M. Meissner & Dennis Novy, 2009. "Trade Booms, Trade Busts, and Trade Costs," NBER Working Papers 15267, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Mattoo, Aaditya & Subramanian, Arvind, 2009. "Criss-crossing globalization : uphill flows of skill-intensive goods and foreign direct investment," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5047, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  9. Richard Pomfret & Patricia Sourd in, 2008. "Why Do Trade Costs Vary?," Working Papers 2008-08, University of Adelaide, School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  10. Christopher Gust & Sylvain Leduc & Robert J. Vigfusson, 2006. "Trade integration, competition, and the decline in exchange-rate pass-through," International Finance Discussion Papers 864, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
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  11. Carolyn L. Evans & James Harrigan, 2005. "Distance, Time, and Specialization: Lean Retailing in General Equilibrium," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 292-313, March. [Downloadable!]
  12. Céline CARRERE & Maurice SCHIFF, 2004. "On the Geography of Trade: Distance is Alive and Well," Working Papers 200423, CERDI. [Downloadable!]
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