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Geography and intra-national home bias: U.S. domestic trade in 1949 and 2007

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  • Nicholas Crafts
  • Alexander Klein

Abstract

This article examines home bias in U.S. domestic trade in 1949 and 2007. We use a unique data set of 1949 carload waybill statistics produced by the Interstate Commerce Commission, and 2007 Commodity Flow Survey data. The results show that home bias was considerably smaller in 1949 than in 2007 and that home bias in 1949 was even negative for several commodities. We argue that the difference between the geographical distribution of the manufacturing activities in 1949 and that of 2007 is an important factor explaining the differences in the magnitudes of home-bias estimates in those years.

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  • Nicholas Crafts & Alexander Klein, 2015. "Geography and intra-national home bias: U.S. domestic trade in 1949 and 2007," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 477-497.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:jecgeo:v:15:y:2015:i:3:p:477-497.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeg/lbu008
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    Cited by:

    1. Nicholas Crafts & Alexander Klein, 2019. "The Rise and Fall of US Manufacturing: Re-Examination of Long-Run Spatial Trends," Studies in Economics 1910, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    2. Crafts, Nicholas & Alexander Klein, Alexander, 2017. "A Long-Run Perspective on the Spatial Concentration of Manufacturing Industries in the United States," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 339, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • N72 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-

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