Trains, Trade and Transaction Costs : How Does Domestic Trade by Rail Affect Market Prices of Malawi Agricultural Commodities?

This paper measures the impact of low-cost transport by rail in Malawi on the dispersion of agricultural commodities prices across markets by exploiting the quasi-experimental design of the nearly total collapse of domestic transport by rail in Jan...

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Main Author:	Zant, Wouter
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:	RAIL AGRICULTURE TRADE TRANSACTION COSTS CROP PRICES
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/393461498762732861/Trains-trade-and-transaction-costs-how-does-domestic-trade-by-rail-affect-market-prices-of-Malawi-agricultural-commodities http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27635

id	okr-10986-27635
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-276352021-06-08T14:42:47Z Trains, Trade and Transaction Costs : How Does Domestic Trade by Rail Affect Market Prices of Malawi Agricultural Commodities? Zant, Wouter RAIL AGRICULTURE TRADE TRANSACTION COSTS CROP PRICES This paper measures the impact of low-cost transport by rail in Malawi on the dispersion of agricultural commodities prices across markets by exploiting the quasi-experimental design of the nearly total collapse of domestic transport by rail in January 2003 due to the destruction of a railway bridge at Rivirivi, Balaka. Estimations are based on monthly market prices of four agricultural commodities (maize, groundnuts, rice, and beans) in 27 local markets for the period 1998–2006. Market pairs connected by rail when the railway line was operational are intervention observations. Railway transport services explain a 14 percent to 17 percent reduction in price dispersion across markets. Geographical reach of trade varies by crop, most likely related to storability and geographical spread of production. Perishability appears to increase impact reflecting limited scope for arbitrage. Overall, impacts are remarkably similar in size across commodities. 2017-07-19T16:08:11Z 2017-07-19T16:08:11Z 2017-06 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/393461498762732861/Trains-trade-and-transaction-costs-how-does-domestic-trade-by-rail-affect-market-prices-of-Malawi-agricultural-commodities http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27635 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8132 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Malawi
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English en_US
topic	RAIL AGRICULTURE TRADE TRANSACTION COSTS CROP PRICES
spellingShingle	RAIL AGRICULTURE TRADE TRANSACTION COSTS CROP PRICES Zant, Wouter Trains, Trade and Transaction Costs : How Does Domestic Trade by Rail Affect Market Prices of Malawi Agricultural Commodities?
geographic_facet	Africa Malawi
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8132
description	This paper measures the impact of low-cost transport by rail in Malawi on the dispersion of agricultural commodities prices across markets by exploiting the quasi-experimental design of the nearly total collapse of domestic transport by rail in January 2003 due to the destruction of a railway bridge at Rivirivi, Balaka. Estimations are based on monthly market prices of four agricultural commodities (maize, groundnuts, rice, and beans) in 27 local markets for the period 1998–2006. Market pairs connected by rail when the railway line was operational are intervention observations. Railway transport services explain a 14 percent to 17 percent reduction in price dispersion across markets. Geographical reach of trade varies by crop, most likely related to storability and geographical spread of production. Perishability appears to increase impact reflecting limited scope for arbitrage. Overall, impacts are remarkably similar in size across commodities.
format	Working Paper
author	Zant, Wouter
author_facet	Zant, Wouter
author_sort	Zant, Wouter
title	Trains, Trade and Transaction Costs : How Does Domestic Trade by Rail Affect Market Prices of Malawi Agricultural Commodities?
title_short	Trains, Trade and Transaction Costs : How Does Domestic Trade by Rail Affect Market Prices of Malawi Agricultural Commodities?
title_full	Trains, Trade and Transaction Costs : How Does Domestic Trade by Rail Affect Market Prices of Malawi Agricultural Commodities?
title_fullStr	Trains, Trade and Transaction Costs : How Does Domestic Trade by Rail Affect Market Prices of Malawi Agricultural Commodities?
title_full_unstemmed	Trains, Trade and Transaction Costs : How Does Domestic Trade by Rail Affect Market Prices of Malawi Agricultural Commodities?
title_sort	trains, trade and transaction costs : how does domestic trade by rail affect market prices of malawi agricultural commodities?
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2017
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/393461498762732861/Trains-trade-and-transaction-costs-how-does-domestic-trade-by-rail-affect-market-prices-of-Malawi-agricultural-commodities http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27635
_version_	1764465606604619776

Trains, Trade and Transaction Costs : How Does Domestic Trade by Rail Affect Market Prices of Malawi Agricultural Commodities?

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