Connectivity Along Overland Corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative

The six land corridors that are the ‘Belt’ part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) connect more than sixty countries. As the initiative progresses, policy makers, analysts and researchers are trying to answer a few open questions of which the mo...

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Main Authors: Derudder, Ben, Liu, Xingjian, Kunaka, Charles
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/264651538637972468/Connectivity-Along-Overland-Corridors-of-the-Belt-and-Road-Initiative
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30609
id okr-10986-30609
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-306092021-05-25T09:55:13Z Connectivity Along Overland Corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative Derudder, Ben Liu, Xingjian Kunaka, Charles TRADE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE TRANSPORT CONNECTIVITY LOGISTICS TRANSPORT COSTS The six land corridors that are the ‘Belt’ part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) connect more than sixty countries. As the initiative progresses, policy makers, analysts and researchers are trying to answer a few open questions of which the most common are: How can a country best benefit from the BRI? How should projects be prioritized and sequenced? What opportunities emerge as a result of participating in the initiative? The authors use a network economics approach to answer some of these questions and others. Our hypothesis is that the ability of countries to maximize the benefits of BRI will depend on the position of each country in the new connectivity maps that are emerging. Ultimately, an initiative such as the BRI will change the way economic centers, as the most productive nodes in each country, are connected. Productivity, competition, market opportunities, and transport and logistics costs are all likely to be impacted. However, the magnitude of the effects will depend on where along the Belt corridors a city is located relative to all other countries and economic centers. Ultimately, the difference in outcomes will depend on whether a center intermediates trade flows in the network or serves as an end node that generates inbound and outbound flows. Centers that are not well connected in the new BRI maps may not experience much positive impact. Emphasis should therefore be on the weak links within the networks. 2018-10-24T19:31:01Z 2018-10-24T19:31:01Z 2018-10 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/264651538637972468/Connectivity-Along-Overland-Corridors-of-the-Belt-and-Road-Initiative http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30609 English MTI Global Practice Discussion Paper;No. 6 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Working Paper
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic TRADE
BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE
TRANSPORT CONNECTIVITY
LOGISTICS
TRANSPORT COSTS
spellingShingle TRADE
BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE
TRANSPORT CONNECTIVITY
LOGISTICS
TRANSPORT COSTS
Derudder, Ben
Liu, Xingjian
Kunaka, Charles
Connectivity Along Overland Corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative
relation MTI Global Practice Discussion Paper;No. 6
description The six land corridors that are the ‘Belt’ part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) connect more than sixty countries. As the initiative progresses, policy makers, analysts and researchers are trying to answer a few open questions of which the most common are: How can a country best benefit from the BRI? How should projects be prioritized and sequenced? What opportunities emerge as a result of participating in the initiative? The authors use a network economics approach to answer some of these questions and others. Our hypothesis is that the ability of countries to maximize the benefits of BRI will depend on the position of each country in the new connectivity maps that are emerging. Ultimately, an initiative such as the BRI will change the way economic centers, as the most productive nodes in each country, are connected. Productivity, competition, market opportunities, and transport and logistics costs are all likely to be impacted. However, the magnitude of the effects will depend on where along the Belt corridors a city is located relative to all other countries and economic centers. Ultimately, the difference in outcomes will depend on whether a center intermediates trade flows in the network or serves as an end node that generates inbound and outbound flows. Centers that are not well connected in the new BRI maps may not experience much positive impact. Emphasis should therefore be on the weak links within the networks.
format Working Paper
author Derudder, Ben
Liu, Xingjian
Kunaka, Charles
author_facet Derudder, Ben
Liu, Xingjian
Kunaka, Charles
author_sort Derudder, Ben
title Connectivity Along Overland Corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative
title_short Connectivity Along Overland Corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative
title_full Connectivity Along Overland Corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative
title_fullStr Connectivity Along Overland Corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative
title_full_unstemmed Connectivity Along Overland Corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative
title_sort connectivity along overland corridors of the belt and road initiative
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2018
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/264651538637972468/Connectivity-Along-Overland-Corridors-of-the-Belt-and-Road-Initiative
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30609
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