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The world is not yet flat : transport costs matter !

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  • Behrens,Kristian
  • Brown,W. Mark
  • Bougna Lonla,Theophile

Abstract

The paper provides evidence of the effects of changes in transport costs on the geographic concentration of industries. The analysis uses micro-level commodity flow data and micro-geographic plant-level data to construct industry-specific ad valorem trucking rates and continuous measures of geographic concentration. The findings show that, controlling for international trade exposure and input-output links, increasing trucking rates are significantly associated with declining geographic concentration. The effect is large: changes in trucking rates explain around 20 percent of the observed decline in geographic concentration of Canadian manufacturing industries between 1992 and 2008.

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  • Behrens,Kristian & Brown,W. Mark & Bougna Lonla,Theophile, 2016. "The world is not yet flat : transport costs matter !," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7862, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7862
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    3. Arsène Aurelien NJAMEN KENGDO & Luc NEMBOT NDEFFO & Désiré AVOM, 2020. "The Effect of Foreign Debt on Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan African Sub-Regions," Economics and Applied Informatics, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 1, pages 109-114.
    4. Ekaterina Aleksandrova & Kristian Behrens & Maria Kuznetsova, 2020. "Manufacturing (co)agglomeration in a transition country: Evidence from Russia," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 88-128, January.
    5. Kristian Behrens, 2016. "Agglomeration and clusters: Tools and insights from coagglomeration patterns," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 49(4), pages 1293-1339, November.
    6. Arsène Aurelien Njamen Kengdo & Tii N. Nchofoung & Philemon Bonaventure Ntang, 2020. "Effect of external debt on the level of infrastructure in Africa," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(4), pages 3349-3366.
    7. Lenaerts, Bert & Allroggen, Florian & Malina, Robert, 2021. "The economic impact of aviation: A review on the role of market access," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    8. Robby K. Bemrose & W. Mark Brown & Jesse Tweedle, 2020. "Going the distance: Estimating the effect of provincial borders on trade when geography (and everything else) matters," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(3), pages 1098-1131, August.
    9. Armando J. Garcia Pires & José Pedro Pontes, 2021. "(De)Industrialization, Technology and Transportation," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 527-538, July.
    10. Alam, Muneeza & Herrera Dappe, Matías & Melecky, Martin & Goldblatt, Ran, 2022. "Wider economic benefits of transport corridors: Evidence from international development organizations," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    11. Behrens, Kristian & Sharunova, Vera, 2015. "Inter- and intra-firm linkages: Evidence from microgeographic location patterns," CEPR Discussion Papers 10921, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Edilberto Tiago de Almeida & Raul da Mota Silveira Neto & Roberta de Moraes Rocha, 2022. "Manufacturing location patterns in Brazil," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(4), pages 839-873, August.
    13. Cosar,Ahmet Kerem, 2022. "Overland Transport Costs : A Review," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10156, The World Bank.
    14. Behrens, Kristian & Guillain, Rachel, 2017. "The determinants of coagglomeration: Evidence from functional employment patterns," CEPR Discussion Papers 11884, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Kristian Behrens & Brahim Boualam & Julien Martin, 2016. "The resilience of the Canadian textile industries and clusters to shocks, 2001-2013," CIRANO Project Reports 2016rp-05, CIRANO.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic Geography; International Trade and Trade Rules; General Manufacturing; Construction Industry;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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