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Global Gains from Reduction of Trade Costs

Author

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  • Han QI

    (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

  • Haichao Fan

    (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

  • Edwin Lai

    (Hong Kong University of Science and Tech)

Abstract

We derive a simple equation to calculate the global welfare impact of the simultaneous reduction of trade costs between multiple country-pairs. Interestingly, we find that we obtain the same equation for a broad class of trade models. Moreover, balanced trade is mostly not required for the equation to work, nor does trade elasticity need to be known. The global welfare impact only depends on two sets of statistics: (i) the ratio of bilateral trade flow between each pair of trading partners and global income; and (ii) the percentage change in exporting cost for each pair of trading partners. The class of models includes the many-country, many-good neo-classical-type model, and the Armington-type models such as Eaton and Kortum (2002), Krugman (1980), Melitz (2003) with Pareto distribution of firm productivity, and the extensions of these models to the multi-country and multi-sector case, multi-factor production technology, multi-stage production, the existence of intermediate good and the existence of a non-traded good sector in each country. We then apply the equation to estimate the global welfare impact of the worldwide reduction of international shipping costs in the last five decades.

Suggested Citation

  • Han QI & Haichao Fan & Edwin Lai, 2013. "Global Gains from Reduction of Trade Costs," 2013 Meeting Papers 1283, Society for Economic Dynamics.
  • Handle: RePEc:red:sed013:1283
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Holmes, Thomas J. & Hsu, Wen-Tai & Lee, Sanghoon, 2014. "Allocative efficiency, mark-ups, and the welfare gains from trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 195-206.
    2. Costinot, Arnaud & Rodríguez-Clare, Andrés, 2014. "Trade Theory with Numbers: Quantifying the Consequences of Globalization," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 197-261, Elsevier.
    3. Treb Allen & Costas Arkolakis & Yuta Takahashi, 2020. "Universal Gravity," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(2), pages 393-433.
    4. P. M. Picard & A. Tampieri, 2021. "Vertical differentiation and trade among symmetric countries," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 71(4), pages 1319-1355, June.
    5. Pengfei Wang & Danyang Xie, 2018. "Trade, Sectorial Reallocation, and Growth," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 19(1), pages 49-74, May.
    6. Lukas Albrecht & Trevor Tombe, 2016. "Internal trade, productivity and interconnected industries: A quantitative analysis," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 49(1), pages 237-263, February.

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    JEL classification:

    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations

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