"The median landlocked country has only 30 percent of the trade volume of the median coastal economy. Halving transport costs increases that trade volume by a factor of five. Improving the standard of infrastructure from that of the bottom quarter of countries to that of the median country increases trade by 50 percent. Improving infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa is especially important for increasing African trade"--Cover.

The median landlocked country has only 30 percent of the trade volume of the median coastal economy. Halving transport costs increases that trade volume by a factor of five. Improving the standard of infrastructure from that of the bottom quarter of countries to that of the median country increases trade by 50 percent. Improving infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa is especially important for increasing African trade.Limao and Venables use three different data sets to investigate how transport depends on geography and infrastructure. Landlocked countries have high transport costs, which can be substantially reduced by improving the quality of their infrastructure and that of transit countries.Analysis of bilateral trade data confirms the importance of infrastructure. Limatilde;o and Venables estimate the elasticity of trade flows with regard to transport costs to be high, at about -2.5. This means that:middot; The median landlocked country has only 30 percent of the trade volume of the median coastal economy.middot; Halving transport costs increases the volume of trade by a factor of five.middot; Improving infrastructure from the 75th to the 50th percentile increases trade by 50 percent.Using their results and a basic gravity model to study Sub-Saharan African trade, both internally and with the rest of the world, Limao and Venables find that infrastructure problems largely explain the relatively low levels of African trade.This paper - a product of Trade, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to investigate the effects of geography on economic performance. The authors may be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected].

"What effect does distance have on costs for economies at different locations? Exports and imports of final and intermediate goods bear transport costs that increase with distance. Production and trade depend on factor endowments and factor intensities as well as on distance and the transport intensities of different goods"--Cover.

Afghanistan is a landlocked country which relies heavily on the road and air transport sub sector. The country mountain terrains, low quality infrastructure, and artificial and institutional barriers to trade add to geographical disadvantage of Afghanistan, and increased the cost of moving goods internationally. Pakistan and Iran provide Afghanistan the most direct route to the sea and international market through the ports of Karachi and Bandar Abbas respectively. In compare to Iran Pakistan has the most advantageous position in Afghan transit trade, by offering the most nearest route to international market through Karachi seaport. The fundamental object of this present research is to measure the geographical disadvantage of Afghanistan, and to estimate the total trucking cost between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to indicate how distance, infrastructure, time, bribe, and geography increase the transport costs.

Much of the analysis of infrastructure's impact on trade costs focuses on conditions in developed countries. This book makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding by examining the situation in developing Asia, the world's most populous and fastest growing region. This study analyzes and draws policy implications from infrastructure's central role in lowering Asia's trade costs. Infrastructure is shown to be a cost-effective means of lowering trade costs and thereby promoting regional growth and integration. This book combines thematic and country studies, while breaking new ground in.

What effect does distance ...

International trade has grown rapidly over the past half century, accommodated by the transportation industry through concomitant growth and technological change. But while the connection between transport and trade flows is clear, the academic literature often looks at these two issues separately. This Handbook is unique in pulling together the key insights of each field while highlighting what we know about their intersection and ideas for future research in this relatively unexamined but growing area of study.

In this paper we study the role of the transportation sector in world trade. We build a spatial model that centers on the interaction of the market for (oceanic) transportation services and the market for world trade in goods. The model delivers equilibrium trade flows, as well as equilibrium trade costs (shipping prices). Using detailed data on vessel movements and shipping prices, we document novel facts about shipping patterns; we then flexibly estimate our model. We use this setup to demonstrate that the transportation sector (i) attenuates differences in the comparative advantage across countries; (ii) generates network effects in trade costs; and (iii) dampens the impact of shocks on trade flows. These three mechanisms reveal a new role for geography in international trade that was previously concealed by the frequently-used assumption of exogenous trade costs. Finally, we illustrate how our setup can be used for policy analysis by evaluating the impact of future and existing infrastructure projects (e.g. Northwest Passage, Panama Canal).

Based on in-depth empirical research, this book develops our understanding of maritime transport costs, the maritime industry and the competitiveness of regions in a global market environment through a geographical lens. Further, the book uses a unique set of data that gives an extensive insight into Latin American international maritime transport costs and its determinants. This is a clear call for policy makers and port authorities to strengthen transnational cooperation in order to improve the development of the whole system of maritime transport, focusing on the causes that put regions at risk of becoming peripheral and uncompetitive.