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Transportation Costs in the Age of Highways: Evidence from United States 1955-2010

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  • Klein, Alexander
  • Barde, Sylvain

Abstract

This paper constructs general road transport costs in the United States between 1955 and 2010 combining stock measures of transportation network with fuel consumption, driving speed, fuel prices, and labour costs. This results in a novel data set of 3105×3105 county-pairs for seven benchmark years. Using a county-level counterfactual analysis, we precisely quantify the reduction of the transport cost generated by Interstate Highway System. We document an inverted U-shape pattern for road transport costs, peaking in 1980, explained by initially increasing labor costs, followed by cost reductions due to trucking industry deregulation and the completion of the IHS.

Suggested Citation

  • Klein, Alexander & Barde, Sylvain, 2021. "Transportation Costs in the Age of Highways: Evidence from United States 1955-2010," CEPR Discussion Papers 16734, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:16734
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    Cited by:

    1. Klein, Alexander & Crafts, Nicholas, 2023. "Unconditional Convergence in Manufacturing Productivity across U.S. States: What the Long-Run Data Show," CEPR Discussion Papers 18065, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Klein, Alexander, 2023. "From the Manufacturing Belt to the Rust Belt. Spatial Inequalities in the United States: An Interdisciplinary Literature Review," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 657, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    3. Ignatov, Augustin, 2024. "European highway networks, transportation costs, and regional income," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Transport costs; Interstate highway system; Road network; Dijkstra’s algorithm;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N72 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • N92 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise

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