IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_12834.html

Transport Mode and the Geography of Exchange Rate Pass-Through

Author

Listed:
  • Davide Del Prete
  • Aminur Rahman
  • Edoardo Tolva

Abstract

This paper examines how transport mode shapes the geography of exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) within Global Value Chains. Using transaction-level customs data from the Bangladeshi garment sector (2018–2024), we exploit the sharp depreciation of the Bangladeshi Taka in 2022 to compare maritime and air-based trade corridors through Chittagong seaport and Dhaka airport. We show that ERPT to exporter prices is incomplete on average and systematically lower in buyer–seller relationships that rely more intensively on air transport. This differential is concentrated in destinations and products where delivery speed is especially valuable, notably European fast-fashion markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Davide Del Prete & Aminur Rahman & Edoardo Tolva, 2026. "Transport Mode and the Geography of Exchange Rate Pass-Through," CESifo Working Paper Series 12834, CESifo.
  • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12834
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp12834.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mary Amiti & Oleg Itskhoki & Jozef Konings, 2014. "Importers, Exporters, and Exchange Rate Disconnect," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(7), pages 1942-1978, July.
    2. Gita Gopinath & Emine Boz & Camila Casas & Federico J. Díez & Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas & Mikkel Plagborg-Møller, 2020. "Dominant Currency Paradigm," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(3), pages 677-719, March.
    3. Jean-Noël Barrot & Julien Sauvagnat, 2016. "Input Specificity and the Propagation of Idiosyncratic Shocks in Production Networks," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(3), pages 1543-1592.
    4. Barthélémy Bonadio, 2024. "Ports vs. Roads: Infrastructure, Market Access and Regional Outcomes," CESifo Working Paper Series 11383, CESifo.
    5. Julia Cajal-Grossi & Rocco Macchiavello & Guillermo Noguera, 2023. "Buyers’ Sourcing Strategies and Suppliers’ Markups in Bangladeshi Garments," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(4), pages 2391-2450.
    6. Laura Boudreau & Julia Cajal-Grossi & Rocco Macchiavello, 2023. "Global Value Chains in Developing Countries: A Relational Perspective from Coffee and Garments," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 37(3), pages 59-86, Summer.
    7. Stephen Gibbons & Wenjie Wu, 2020. "Airports, access and local economic performance: evidence from China [Are Chinese cities too small?]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(4), pages 903-937.
    8. Jørn Rattsø & Nicholas Sheard, 2025. "Airports and regional development: the expansion of the Norwegian air network, 1950–2019," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 25(3), pages 351-370.
    9. Auer, Raphael A. & Schoenle, Raphael S., 2016. "Market structure and exchange rate pass-through," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 60-77.
    10. Cajal-Grossi, Julia & Del Prete, Davide & Macchiavello, Rocco, 2023. "Supply chain disruptions and sourcing strategies," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    11. Christoph E. Boehm & Aaron Flaaen & Nitya Pandalai-Nayar, 2019. "Input Linkages and the Transmission of Shocks: Firm-Level Evidence from the 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(1), pages 60-75, March.
    12. Vasco M Carvalho & Makoto Nirei & Yukiko U Saito & Alireza Tahbaz-Salehi, 2021. "Supply Chain Disruptions: Evidence from the Great East Japan Earthquake," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(2), pages 1255-1321.
    13. A Kerem Coşar & Banu Demir & Devaki Ghose & Nathaniel Young, 2022. "Road capacity, domestic trade and regional outcomes [Trade and the topography of the spatial economy]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(5), pages 901-929.
    14. Teresa C. Fort, 2023. "The Changing Firm and Country Boundaries of US Manufacturers in Global Value Chains," Working Papers 23-38, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    15. Bolatto, Stefano & Grazzi, Marco & Tomasi, Chiara, 2022. "Export modes and firms’ adjustments to exchange rate movements," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    16. Pol Antras, 2020. "Conceptual Aspects of Global Value Chains," World Bank Publications - Reports 33228, The World Bank Group.
    17. Stefano DellaVigna & Matthew Gentzkow, 2019. "Uniform Pricing in U.S. Retail Chains," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(4), pages 2011-2084.
    18. Hummels, David L. & Schaur, Georg, 2010. "Hedging price volatility using fast transport," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 15-25, September.
    19. Aizenman, Joshua, 2004. "Endogenous pricing to market and financing costs," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 691-712, May.
    20. Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), 2014. "Handbook of International Economics," Handbook of International Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4.
    21. Jingting Fan & Yi Lu & Wenlan Luo, 2023. "Valuing Domestic Transport Infrastructure: A View from the Route Choice of Exporters," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1562-1579, November.
    22. Marcel P Timmer & Sébastien Miroudot & Gaaitzen J de Vries, 2019. "Functional specialisation in trade," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 1-30.
    23. Danny MacKinnon, 2012. "Beyond strategic coupling: reassessing the firm-region nexus in global production networks," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 227-245, January.
    24. Antrà s, Pol, 2019. "Conceptual Aspects of Global Value Chains," CEPR Discussion Papers 14191, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    25. Teresa C. Fort, 2023. "The Changing Firm and Country Boundaries of US Manufacturers in Global Value Chains," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 37(3), pages 31-58, Summer.
    26. Gereffi, Gary, 1999. "International trade and industrial upgrading in the apparel commodity chain," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 37-70, June.
    27. Teresa C. Fort, 2023. "The Changing Firm and Country Boundaries of US Manufacturers in Global Value Chains," NBER Working Papers 31319, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cajal-Grossi, Julia & Del Prete, Davide & Macchiavello, Rocco, 2023. "Supply chain disruptions and sourcing strategies," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Joaquín Blaum & Federico Esposito & Sebastian Heise, 2025. "Input Sourcing Under Supply Chain Risk: Evidence from U.S. Manufacturing Firms," Staff Reports 1141, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    3. Eppinger, Peter S. & Felbermayr, Gabriel & Krebs, Oliver & Kukharskyy, Bohdan, 2020. "Covid-19 shocking global value chains," Kiel Working Papers 2167, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
    4. Calì, Massimiliano & Graciano, Simón Caicedo & Ghose, Devaki & Montfaucon, Angella Faith & Ruta, Michele, 2026. "Trade policy and exporters’ resilience: Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    5. Vanessa Alvariez & Michele Fioretti & Ayumu Ken Kikkawa & Monica Morlacco, 2022. "Two-Sided Market Power in Firm-to-Firm Trade," Sciences Po Economics Publications (main) hal-03795736, HAL.
    6. Marc Bacchetta & Eddy Bekkers & Roberta Piermartini & Stela Rubinova & Victor Stolzenburg & Ankai Xu, 2024. "COVID‐19 and global value chains: A discussion of arguments on value chain organisation and the role of the WTO," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(9), pages 3709-3746, September.
    7. Sebastian Heise, 2016. "Firm-to-Firm Relationships and Price Rigidity - Theory and Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 6226, CESifo.
    8. Doan Ngoc Thang, 2024. "How do regional extreme events shape supply-chain trade?," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 117-149, February.
    9. Nagengast, Arne J. & Bursian, Dirk & Menz, Jan-Oliver, 2021. "Dynamic pricing and exchange rate pass-through: Evidence from transaction-level data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    10. Zhigang LI & Shang-Jin WEI & Hongyong ZHANG, 2018. "Production Chains, Exchange Rate Shocks, and Firm Performance," Discussion papers 18058, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    11. Chacha, Peter Wankuru & Kirui, Benard Kipyegon & Wiedemann, Verena, 2024. "Supply Chains in Times of Crisis: Evidence from Kenya’s Production Network," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    12. Muhammad Nadeem Sarwar, 2023. "An Evaluation of Different Tax Reform Proposals in Pakistan using CGE Model," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 62(3), pages 309-330.
    13. d'Artis Kancs, 2024. "Uncertainty of supply chains: Risk and ambiguity," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5), pages 2009-2033, May.
    14. Alex Nikolsko‐Rzhevskyy & Oleksandr Talavera & Nam Vu, 2023. "The flood that caused a drought," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(4), pages 965-981, October.
    15. Matteo Coronese & Davide Luzzati, 2022. "Economic impacts of natural hazards and complexity science: a critical review," LEM Papers Series 2022/13, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    16. Hongyong Zhang & Ha Thi Thanh Doan, 2026. "Global Sourcing and Firm Inventory During the Pandemic," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(2), pages 487-506, January.
    17. Andrew B. Bernard & Andreas Moxnes, 2018. "Networks and Trade," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 65-85, August.
    18. Elliott, M. & Jackson, M. O., 2024. "Supply Chain Disruptions, the Structure of Production Networks, and the Impact of Globalization," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2424, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    19. Hayato Kato & Toshihiro Okubo, 2022. "The Resilience of FDI to Natural Disasters Through Industrial Linkages," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 82(1), pages 177-225, May.
    20. Bahal, Girish & Lenzo, Damian, 2023. "Industries on the edge: The most exposed sectors to microeconomic shocks," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation
    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12834. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.