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On the Death of Distance and Borders: Evidence from the Nineteenth Century

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  • David S. Jacks

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate time-dependent border and distance effects in the nineteenth century and document clear declines in the importance of these variables through time. What this suggests, in light of the work for the post-1950 era, is that researchers might have correctly identified the increasing effect of distance on bilateral trade over time. In other words, trade costs may have not declined nearly as dramatically in the late twentieth century as has been supposed, especially in light of the nineteenth century, a time of documented trade cost decline and commodity market integration.

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  • David S. Jacks, 2009. "On the Death of Distance and Borders: Evidence from the Nineteenth Century," NBER Working Papers 15250, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15250
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    Cited by:

    1. Lin, Faqin & Sim, Nicholas C.S., 2012. "Death of distance and the distance puzzle," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 116(2), pages 225-228.
    2. Mario J. Crucini & Gregor W. Smith, 2016. "Distance And Time Effects In Swedish Commodity Prices, 1732-1914," Working Paper 1357, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    3. Junping Yang & Ruiqi Wu & Haochun Yang, 2023. "Digital Transformation and Enterprise Sustainability: The Moderating Role of Regional Virtual Agglomeration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-21, May.
    4. Mario J. Crucini & Gregor W. Smith, 2014. "Geographic Barriers to Commodity Price Integration: Evidence from US Cities and Swedish Towns, 1732 - 1860," CAMA Working Papers 2014-75, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    5. Orestis VRAVOSINOS, 2017. "On the life and death of distance," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania - AGER, vol. 0(1(610), S), pages 207-214, Spring.
    6. Orestis VRAVOSINOS, 2017. "On the life and death of distance," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(1(610), S), pages 207-214, Spring.
    7. Douglas L. Campbell, 2010. "History, Culture, and Trade: A Dynamic Gravity Approach," EERI Research Paper Series EERI_RP_2010_26, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    8. James MacGee & Chris Hajzler, 2012. "Retail Price Differences across U.S. and Canadian Cities during the Interwar Period," 2012 Meeting Papers 1126, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    9. Andersson , Fredrik N. G. & Ljungberg, Jonas, 2014. "Grain Market Integration in the Baltic Sea Region in the 19th Century," Working Papers 2014:3, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    10. Stephane Becuwe & Bertrand Blancheton & Leo Charles & Matthieu Clement, 2015. "Asymmetric influence of distance on french international trade 1850-1913," EcoMod2015 8552, EcoMod.
    11. Samuel Standaert & Stijn Ronsse & Benjamin Vandermarliere, 2014. "Historical trade integration: Globalization and the distance puzzle in the long 20th century," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 14/897, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    12. Gianluca Cafiso, 2012. "Sectoral Trade Freeness and Agglomeration in the EU: An Empirical Test Strategy," CESifo Working Paper Series 4000, CESifo.
    13. Lin, Faqin, 2013. "Are distance effects really a puzzle?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 684-689.
    14. Uebele, Martin, 2011. "National and international market integration in the 19th century: Evidence from comovement," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 226-242, April.
    15. David Cuberes, 2013. "Are Internet and Face-to-Face Contacts Complements or Substitutes? Evidence from Internet Traffic between Cities," Working Papers 2013010, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    16. Tianbo Wu & Bin Zhang & Yukun Cao & Pingjun Sun, 2020. "Impact of Multi-Dimensional and Dynamic Distance on China’s Exports of Wooden Forest Products to Countries along the “Belt and Road”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-12, April.
    17. Gianluca Cafiso, 2015. "Sectoral trade freeness and agglomeration in the EU: an empirical test approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 779-805, March.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F40 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - General
    • N70 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - General, International, or Comparative

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