Border effects in the variability of rice price in the Indian subcontinent: Results from a natural experiment

The presence of a national border seems to increase the variability of consumer price for cross-border locations. Most of the empirical studies have been conducted in a with or without a border framework. Researchers compared price variation at locations in different countries with price variation at locations within a country. We adopted a complementary before and after a border framework. Prices at locations under different political regimes in different time periods were used to examine whether the creation of national borders is of any significance in consumer price variability. We found the price variability of rice for cross border city pairs increased significantly during the Pakistan period - when the Indian Subcontinent was composed of two independent countries - while it increased slightly during the Bangladesh period when the same geographic region was composed of three different countries.