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Airplanes and Comparative Advantage

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James Harrigan

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Abstract

Airplanes are a fast but expensive means of shipping goods, a fact which has implications for comparative advantage. The paper develops a Ricardian model with a continuum of goods which vary by weight and hence transport cost. Comparative advantage depends on relative air and surface transport costs across countries and goods, as well as stochastic productivity. In the model, countries that are far from their export markets will have low wages and tend to specialize in high value/weight products, which will be shipped on airplanes. Less remote exporters will have higher wages, and will tend to specialize in low value/weight products which will be sent by ship, train, or truck. These implications are confirmed using detailed data on U.S. imports from 1990 to 2003. Distance from the US is associated with much higher import unit values, an indication that the model identifies a quantitatively important influence on specialization and trade.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 11688.

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Date of creation: Oct 2005
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11688

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F1 - International Economics - - Trade

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Juan Carlos Hallak, 2004. "Product Quality, Linder, and the Direction of Trade," NBER Working Papers 10877, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. David Hummels & Alexandre Skiba, 2004. "Shipping the Good Apples Out? An Empirical Confirmation of the Alchian-Allen Conjecture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1384-1402, December.
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  3. Redding, Stephen & Venables, Anthony J., 2004. "Economic geography and international inequality," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 53-82, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Alan V Deardorff, 2004. "Local Comparative Advantage: Trade Costs and the Pattern of Trade," Working Papers 500, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan. [Downloadable!]
  5. Peter K. Schott, 2004. "Across-product Versus Within-product Specialization in International Trade," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 119(2), pages 646-677, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. James Harrigan & Anthony J. Venables, 2004. "Timeliness, Trade and Agglomeration," NBER Working Papers 10404, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Jonathan Eaton & Samuel Kortum, 2002. "Technology, Geography, and Trade," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(5), pages 1741-1779, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Limão, Nuno & Venables, Anthony J., 1999. "Geographical Disadvantage: A Heckscher-Ohlin-Von Thunen model of International Specialization," CEPR Discussion Papers 2305, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Peter K. Schott, 2006. "Transfer Pricing by U.S.-Based Multinational Firms," NBER Working Papers 12493, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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