IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jcecon/v36y2008i3p453-466.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Beyond borders--Reconsidering regional trade in Central Asia

Author

Listed:
  • Grafe, Clemens
  • Raiser, Martin
  • Sakatsume, Toshiaki

Abstract

This paper investigates the barriers to trade in Central Asia. While much of the existing literature on international integration of FSU countries has focused on the quantities traded, we use relative prices to shed some light on impediments to trade. We find that the impact of borders on price variations across different locations in Central Asia is much smaller than conventionally thought. While prices vary significantly across the region, variations within one country are just as large as variations across countries. We hypothesise (although we cannot prove) that this is due to obstacles to trade, and in particular rent seeking by enforcement agencies at the numerous internal check points. The paper also confirms that in relative terms, the borders with Uzbekistan are considerably more difficult to cross than those with Kazakhstan or the Kyrgyz Republic. Journal of Comparative Economics 36 (3) (2008) 453-466.

Suggested Citation

  • Grafe, Clemens & Raiser, Martin & Sakatsume, Toshiaki, 2008. "Beyond borders--Reconsidering regional trade in Central Asia," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 453-466, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:36:y:2008:i:3:p:453-466
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147-5967(08)00020-6
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2004. "Trade Costs," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 691-751, September.
    2. Engel, Charles & Rogers, John H, 1996. "How Wide Is the Border?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1112-1125, December.
    3. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2003. "Gravity with Gravitas: A Solution to the Border Puzzle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 170-192, March.
    4. Jan Fidrmuc & Jarko Fidrmuc, 2003. "Disintegration and Trade," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(5), pages 811-829, November.
    5. Lev Freinkman & Evgeny Polyakov & Carolina Revenco, 2004. "Trade Performance and Regional Integration of the CIS Countries," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14933.
    6. Berkowitz, Daniel & DeJong, David N., 2003. "Regional integration: an empirical assessment of Russia," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 541-559, May.
    7. Parsley, David C. & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2001. "Explaining the border effect: the role of exchange rate variability, shipping costs, and geography," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 87-105, October.
    8. Mahbub Morshed, A. K. M., 2003. "What can we learn from a large border effect in developing countries?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 353-369, October.
    9. Raballand, Gael & Kunth, Antoine & Auty, Richard, 2005. "Central Asia's transport cost burden and its impact on trade," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 6-31, March.
    10. Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Linda Tesar, 2005. "A Re-Examination of the Border Effect," Working Papers 546, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
    11. McCallum, John, 1995. "National Borders Matter: Canada-U.S. Regional Trade Patterns," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 615-623, June.
    12. Betts, Caroline & Devereux, Michael B., 2000. "Erratum to "Exchange rate dynamics in a model of pricing-to-market": [Journal of International Economics 50 (2000) 214-244]," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 207-208, October.
    13. Betts, Caroline & Devereux, Michael B., 2000. "Exchange rate dynamics in a model of pricing-to-market," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 215-244, February.
    14. John H. Rogers & Hayden P. Smith, 2001. "Border effects within the NAFTA countries," International Finance Discussion Papers 698, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alexander Libman & Evgeny Vinokurov, 2011. "Is it really different? Patterns of regionalisation in post-Soviet Central Asia," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 469-492, June.
    2. Brenton, Paul & Portugal-Perez, Alberto & Regolo, Julie, 2014. "Food prices, road infrastructure, and market integration in Central and Eastern Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7003, The World Bank.
    3. Morshed, A.K.M. Mahbub, 2011. "Border effects in the variability of rice price in the Indian subcontinent: Results from a natural experiment," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 295-301, August.
    4. Rasoulinezhad, Ehsan & Sung, Jinsok & Talipova, Amina & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2022. "Analyzing energy trade policy in Central Asia using the intercountry trade force approach," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 441-454.
    5. Bruno Versailles, 2012. "Market Intergration and Border Effects in Eastern Africa," CSAE Working Paper Series 2012-01, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    6. Laura Panza, 2024. "From a common empire to colonial rule: Commodity market disintegration in the Near East," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(2), pages 584-611, May.
    7. Bruno Versailles, 2012. "Market Integration and Border Effects in Eastern Africa," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2012-01, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bruno Versailles, 2012. "Market Integration and Border Effects in Eastern Africa," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2012-01, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    2. Corsetti, Giancarlo & Dedola, Luca, 2005. "A macroeconomic model of international price discrimination," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 129-155, September.
    3. Roux, Catherine & Santos-Pinto, Luís & Thöni, Christian, 2016. "Home bias in multimarket Cournot games," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 361-371.
    4. Wang, Chenglong & Liu, Hui & Zhang, Mengtian & Wei, Zongcai, 2018. "The border effect on urban land expansion in China: The case of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 287-294.
    5. Bruno Versailles, 2012. "Market Intergration and Border Effects in Eastern Africa," CSAE Working Paper Series 2012-01, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    6. Pauline Grosjean & Claudia Senik, 2011. "Democracy, Market Liberalization, and Political Preferences," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 365-381, February.
    7. Agnosteva, Delina E. & Anderson, James E. & Yotov, Yoto V., 2019. "Intra-national trade costs: Assaying regional frictions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 32-50.
    8. Volker Nitsch & Nikolaus Wolf, 2013. "Tear down this wall: on the persistence of borders in trade," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(1), pages 154-179, February.
    9. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2004. "Trade Costs," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 691-751, September.
    10. Wolf, Nikolaus, 2009. "Was Germany Ever United? Evidence from Intra- and International Trade, 1885–1933," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 69(3), pages 846-881, September.
    11. Whalley, John & Xin, Xian, 2009. "Home and regional biases and border effects in Armington type models," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 309-319, March.
    12. George Alessandria, 2005. "Consumer search, price dispersion, and international relative price volatility," Working Papers 05-9, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    13. Rebecca Hellerstein, 2005. "A Decomposition of the Sources of Incomplete Cross-Border Transmission," 2005 Meeting Papers 805, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    14. Xuewei Wang & Shuangli Ding & Weidong Cao & Dalong Fan & Bin Tang, 2020. "Research on Network Patterns and Influencing Factors of Population Flow and Migration in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-19, August.
    15. Lee, Inkoo & Shin, Jonghyup, 2010. "Real exchange rate dynamics in the presence of non-traded goods and transaction costs," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 216-218, March.
    16. Ihle, Rico & von Cramon-Taubadel, Stephan & Zorya, Sergiy, 2010. "Country and border effects in the transmission of maize prices in Eastern Africa: evidence from a semi-parametric regression model," 2010 AAAE Third Conference/AEASA 48th Conference, September 19-23, 2010, Cape Town, South Africa 96184, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    17. Martin Berka, 2009. "Nonlinear Adjustment in Law of One Price Deviations and Physical Characteristics of Goods," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 51-73, February.
    18. Zheng, Yilin & Lu, Ming & Li, Jiewei, 2022. "Internal circulation in China: Analyzing market segmentation and integration using big data for truck traffic flow," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    19. Christopher GRIGORIOU & Céline CARRERE, 2008. "Landlockedness, Infrastructure and Trade:New Estimates for Central Asian Countries," Working Papers 200801, CERDI.
    20. Holmes, Thomas J. & Stevens, John J., 2012. "Exports, borders, distance, and plant size," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 91-103.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:36:y:2008:i:3:p:453-466. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622864 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.