Trade Costs in the Developing World : 1995 - 2010
The authors use newly collected data on trade and production in 178 countries to infer estimates of trade costs in agriculture and manufactured goods for the 1995-2010 period. The data show that trade costs are strongly declining in per capita inco...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/01/17155919/trade-costs-developing-world-1995-2010 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12182 |
| Summary: | The authors use newly collected data on
trade and production in 178 countries to infer estimates of
trade costs in agriculture and manufactured goods for the
1995-2010 period. The data show that trade costs are
strongly declining in per capita income. Moreover, the rate
of change of trade costs is largely unfavorable to the
developing world: trade costs are falling noticeably faster
in developed countries than in developing ones, which serves
to increase the relative isolation of the latter. In
particular, Sub-Saharan African countries and low-income
countries remain subject to very high levels of trade costs.
In terms of policy implications, the analysis finds that
maritime transport connectivity and logistics performance
are very important determinants of bilateral trade costs: in
some specifications, their combined effect is comparable to
that of geographical distance. Traditional and
non-traditional trade policies more generally, including
market entry barriers and regional integration agreements,
play a significant role in shaping the trade costs landscape. |
|---|