The Experts below are selected from a list of 102606 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Richard Rogerson - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
productivity Transport Costs and subsistence agriculture
Journal of Development Economics, 2014Co-Authors: Douglas Gollin, Richard RogersonAbstract:Abstract A defining feature of many poor economies is the large fraction of workers engaged in subsistence agriculture. We develop a multi-sector multi-region model of a poor economy in which it is costly to Transport goods across regions in order to study this outcome. A key finding is that higher Transport Costs drive up the size of the agricultural workforce and the fraction in subsistence. In a calibrated version of our model we show that the effect of Transport productivity is quantitatively important in terms of both allocations and welfare.
-
Productivity, Transport Costs and subsistence agriculture ☆
Journal of Development Economics, 2014Co-Authors: Douglas Gollin, Richard RogersonAbstract:Abstract A defining feature of many poor economies is the large fraction of workers engaged in subsistence agriculture. We develop a multi-sector multi-region model of a poor economy in which it is costly to Transport goods across regions in order to study this outcome. A key finding is that higher Transport Costs drive up the size of the agricultural workforce and the fraction in subsistence. In a calibrated version of our model we show that the effect of Transport productivity is quantitatively important in terms of both allocations and welfare.
Miren Lafourcade - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Transport Costs measures determinants and regional policy implications for france
Journal of Economic Geography, 2005Co-Authors: Pierre-philippe Combes, Miren LafourcadeAbstract:We develop a methodology to accurately compute Transport Costs. Based on the real Transport network, our measure encompasses the characteristics of infrastructure, vehicle and energy used, as well as labor, insurance, tax and general charges borne by Transport carriers. Computed for the 341 French employment areas, road Transport shipments and the period 1978--1998, this new measure is compared to alternative ones such as great circle distance, real distance, or real time. We conclude that these proxies do a very good job in capturing Transport Costs in cross-section analysis. However, important discrepancies limit the possibility of using them in time series analysis. Moreover, our measure allows us to identify the policies that most impact Transport Costs. We show that Transport technology and market structure are responsible for most of the Transport cost decrease. Infrastructure improvements only condition the spatial distribution of the gains. Finally, some implications for researchers and regional policy makers are derived. Copyright 2005, Oxford University Press.
-
Transport Costs: Measures, Determinants and Regional Policy Implications for France
Journal of Economic Geography, 2005Co-Authors: Miren Lafourcade, Pierre-philippe CombesAbstract:We develop a methodology to accurately compute Transport Costs. Based on the real Transport network, our measure encompasses the characteristics of infrastructure, vehicle and energy used, as well as labor, insurance, tax and general charges borne by Transport carriers. Computed for the 341 French employment areas, road Transport shipments and the period 1978-1998, this new measure is compared to alternative ones such as great circle distance, real distance, or real time. We conclude that these proxies do a very good job in capturing Transport Costs in cross-section analysis. However, important discrepancies limit the possibility of using them in time series analysis. Moreover, our measure allows us to identify the policies that most impact Transport Costs. We show that Transport technology and market structure are responsible for most of the Transport cost decrease. Infrastructure improvements only condition the spatial distribution of the gains. Finally, some implications for researchers and regional policy makers are derived.
-
Core-Periphery Patterns of Generalized Transport Costs: France, 1978-98
2003Co-Authors: Pierre-philippe Combes, Miren LafourcadeAbstract:This Paper develops a methodology to compute Transport Costs at low infra-country geographical levels. This simultaneously accounts for the real network infrastructure, a distance cost (fuel, repair, tolls), and a time opportunity cost (wages, insurance and general charges, vehicle use). When considering levels, geodesic distance, real distance, and real time are shown to be good substitutes to the measure we develop. By contrast, variations across time are poorly captured by these simpler Transport cost measures. Besides, the large decrease in Transport Costs that occurred in France between 1978 and 1998 - namely 38:2% - is shown to be mainly due to technology improvements and deregulation. New Transport infrastructures, which contribute only marginally to this decline, shape the spatial pattern of accessibility improvements, however.
-
Transport Costs and Regional Inequalities
Revue économique, 2002Co-Authors: Pierre-philippe Combes, Miren LafourcadeAbstract:This paper presents an economic geography model we use to investigate Transport Costs as a cause of regional inequalities. We perform a structural estimation of this model for 64 sectors simultaneously using a new dataset on generalized Transport Costs between the 341 French Employment Areas. Transport Costs, intermediate inputs and geography play a critical role in the concentration pattern of economic activities. We provide simulations of local production conditions. Large concentration incentives exist in France, possibly inducing the emergence in the long-run of a monocentric core-periphery structure. Besides, in the short-run, a Transport Costs decline reduces concentration at the country level, but it increases inequalities in a large number of French regions. Classification JEL: F1, O1, R3, R4
-
New Economic Geography: The Role of Transport Costs
A Handbook of Transport Economics, 1Co-Authors: Miren Lafourcade, Jacques-françois ThisseAbstract:The chapter surveys the main contributions of new economic geography from the point of view of Transport analysis. It shows that decreasing Transport Costs is likely to exacerbate regional disparities. However, very low Transport Costs should foster a more balanced distribution for economic activities across space. Thus, the spatial curve of development, which relates the degree of spatial concentration to the level of Transport Costs, would be bell-shaped. The paper also provides a detailed discussion of the main determinants of Transport Costs, which remain fairly large in most countries. It concludes with a discussion of some policy implications. Key-words: economic geography, Transport Costs, regional disparities JEL classification: L91, R12, R58 * We gratefully acknowledge Andre de Palma, Robin Lindsey and Kenneth Small for insightful comments.
Alejandro Micco - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
competition regimes and air Transport Costs the effects of open skies agreements
Journal of International Economics, 2006Co-Authors: Alejandro Micco, Tomás SerebriskyAbstract:The relevance of Transport Costs has increased as liberalization continues to reduce artificial barriers to trade. Is it worthwhile to implement policies designed to increase competition in Transport markets? Focusing on air Transport, this paper quantifies the effects of liberalization of air cargo markets on Transport Costs. Between 1990 and 2003, the United States implemented a series of Open Skies Agreements, providing a unique opportunity to assess the effect that a change in the competition regime has on prices. In our sample, Open Skies Agreements reduce air Transport Costs by 9% and increase by 7% the share of imports arriving by air. Those results hold for developed and upper-middle-income developing countries but for lower-middle-income and low-income developing countries Open Skies Agreements do not reduce. This paper was presented at the Fourth LAEBA Annual Meeting, held in Lima, Peru, on June 17, 2008.
-
Competition regimes and air Transport Costs: The effects of open skies agreements
Journal of International Economics, 2006Co-Authors: Alejandro Micco, Tomás SerebriskyAbstract:The relevance of Transport Costs has increased as liberalization continues to reduce artificial barriers to trade. Is it worthwhile to implement policies designed to increase competition in Transport markets? Focusing on air Transport, this paper quantifies the effects of liberalization of air cargo markets on Transport Costs. Between 1990 and 2003, the United States implemented a series of Open Skies Agreements, providing a unique opportunity to assess the effect that a change in the competition regime has on prices. In our sample, Open Skies Agreements reduce air Transport Costs by 9% and increase by 7% the share of imports arriving by air. Those results hold for developed and upper-middle-income developing countries but for lower-middle-income and low-income developing countries Open Skies Agreements do not reduce air Transport Costs. D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
-
port efficiency maritime Transport Costs and bilateral trade
Journal of Development Economics, 2004Co-Authors: Ximena Clark, David Dollar, Alejandro MiccoAbstract:Abstract Recent literature has emphasized the importance of Transport Costs and infrastructure in explaining trade, access to markets, and increases in per capita income. For most Latin American countries, Transport Costs are a greater barrier to U.S. markets than import tariffs. We investigate the determinants of shipping Costs to the United States with a large database of more than 300,000 observations per year on shipments of products aggregated at six-digit Harmonized System (HS) level from different ports around the world. Distance, volumes, and product characteristics all matter. In addition, we find that port efficiency is an important determinant of shipping Costs. Improving port efficiency from the 25th to the 75th percentile reduces shipping Costs by 12%. Bad ports are equivalent to being 60% farther away from markets for the average country. Inefficient ports also increase handling Costs, which are one of the components of shipping Costs. In turn, factors explaining variations in port efficiency include excessive regulation, the prevalence of organized crime, and the general condition of the country's infrastructure. Reductions in country inefficiencies, associated to Transport Costs, from the 25th to 75th percentiles imply an increase in bilateral trade of around 25%.
-
Infrastructure, Competition Regimes, and Air Transport Costs: Cross-Country Evidence - Infrastructure, competition regimes, and air Transport Costs: cross-country evidence
Policy Research Working Papers, 2004Co-Authors: Alejandro Micco, Tomás SerebriskyAbstract:The relevance of Transport Costs has increased as liberalization continues to reduce artificial barriers to trade. Countries need to adopt policies to get closer to global markets. Can improvements in infrastructure and regulation reduce Transport Costs? Is it worthwhile to implement policies designed to increase competition in Transport markets? Focusing on air Transport, which has increased its share in US imports from 24 percent in 1990 to 35 percent in 2000, this paper quantifies the effects of infrastructure, regulatory quality and liberalization of air cargo markets on Transport Costs. During the 1990s, the United States implemented a series of Open Skies Agreements, providing a unique opportunity to assess the effect that a change in the competition regime has on prices. We find that infrastructure, quality of regulation and competition matter. In our sample, an improvement in airport infrastructure from the 25th to 75th percentiles reduces air Transport Costs by 15 percent. A similar improvement in the quality of regulation reduces air Transport Costs by 14 percent. Open Skies Agreements further reduce air Transport Costs by 8 percent.
-
Infrastructure, competition regimes, and air Transport Costs: cross-country evidence
Research Papers in Economics, 2004Co-Authors: Alejandro Micco, Tomás SerebriskyAbstract:The relevance of Transport Costs has increased as liberalization continues to reduce artificial barriers to trade. Countries need to adopt policies to get closer to global markets. Can improvements in infrastructure and regulation reduce Transport Costs? Is it worthwhile to implement policies designed to increase competition in Transport markets? Focusing on air Transport, which has increased its share in US imports from 24 percent in 1990 to 35 percent in 2000, this paper quantifies the effects of infrastructure, regulatory quality and liberalization of air cargo markets on Transport Costs. During the 1990s, the United States implemented a series of Open Skies Agreements, providing a unique opportunity to assess the effect that a change in the competition regime has on prices. We find that infrastructure, quality of regulation and competition matter. In our sample, an improvement in airport infrastructure from the 25th to 75th percentiles reduces air Transport Costs by 15 percent. A similar improvement in the quality of regulation reduces air Transport Costs by 14 percent. Open Skies Agreements further reduce air Transport Costs by 8 percent.
Jacques-françois Thisse - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Industry location and welfare when Transport Costs are endogenous
Journal of Urban Economics, 2009Co-Authors: Kristian Behrens, Carl Gaigné, Jacques-françois ThisseAbstract:Although Transport Costs are a key-ingredient of New Economic Geography, the Transport sector is usually abstracted away from the analysis. Put differently, freight rates are taken as parametric and are not set by the market. This paper studies the relationships between Transport Costs, industry location, and welfare when freight rates are set by profit-maximizing carriers. We show that the demand for Transport services becomes less elastic as the degree of spatial agglomeration rises, which increases carriers' market power and allows them to charge higher markups. Once it is recognized that firms and consumers are free to relocate in response to changes in Transport Costs, an increasing number of carriers, falling fixed or marginal Costs in Transportation, or both, trigger a gradual agglomeration of industry. In the long run, this leads to consumer welfare losses (and to aggregate welfare losses under free entry), with more inequality across agents living in different regions.
-
Industry location and welfare when Transport Costs are endogenous
Journal of Urban Economics, 2009Co-Authors: Kristian Behrens, Carl Gaigné, Jacques-françois ThisseAbstract:Although Transport Costs are a key-ingredient of New Economic Geography, the Transport sector is usually abstracted away from the analysis, Put differently, freight rates are taken as parametric and are not set by the market. This paper studies the relationships between Transport Costs, industry location, and welfare when freight rates are set by profit-maximizing carriers. We show that the demand for Transport services becomes less elastic as the degree of spatial agglomeration rises, which increases carriers' market power and allows them to charge higher markups, Once it is recognized that firms and consumers are free to relocate in response to changes in Transport Costs, an increasing number of carriers, falling fixed or marginal Costs in Transportation, or both, trigger a gradual agglomeration of industry. In the long run, this leads to consumer welfare losses (and to aggregate welfare losses under free entry), with more inequality across agents living in different regions. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
-
Regional Specialization and Transport Costs
Social Science Research Network, 2002Co-Authors: Takatoshi Tabuchi, Jacques-françois ThisseAbstract:We consider an economic geography model in which all firms and workers are mobile, but the agglomeration of firms and workers within a region generates urban Costs. We show that industries with high Transport Costs tend to be more agglomerated than industries with low Transport Costs. This is to be contrasted to the result obtained in the one-industry case in which agglomeration arises for low Transport Costs. We also show that firms supplying non-tradable consumer services are more agglomerated than firms belonging to light industries. In this case, the equilibrium involves an urban hierarchy: for each good, a larger array of varieties is produced within the same city.
-
New Economic Geography: The Role of Transport Costs
A Handbook of Transport Economics, 1Co-Authors: Miren Lafourcade, Jacques-françois ThisseAbstract:The chapter surveys the main contributions of new economic geography from the point of view of Transport analysis. It shows that decreasing Transport Costs is likely to exacerbate regional disparities. However, very low Transport Costs should foster a more balanced distribution for economic activities across space. Thus, the spatial curve of development, which relates the degree of spatial concentration to the level of Transport Costs, would be bell-shaped. The paper also provides a detailed discussion of the main determinants of Transport Costs, which remain fairly large in most countries. It concludes with a discussion of some policy implications. Key-words: economic geography, Transport Costs, regional disparities JEL classification: L91, R12, R58 * We gratefully acknowledge Andre de Palma, Robin Lindsey and Kenneth Small for insightful comments.
Douglas Gollin - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
productivity Transport Costs and subsistence agriculture
Journal of Development Economics, 2014Co-Authors: Douglas Gollin, Richard RogersonAbstract:Abstract A defining feature of many poor economies is the large fraction of workers engaged in subsistence agriculture. We develop a multi-sector multi-region model of a poor economy in which it is costly to Transport goods across regions in order to study this outcome. A key finding is that higher Transport Costs drive up the size of the agricultural workforce and the fraction in subsistence. In a calibrated version of our model we show that the effect of Transport productivity is quantitatively important in terms of both allocations and welfare.
-
Productivity, Transport Costs and subsistence agriculture ☆
Journal of Development Economics, 2014Co-Authors: Douglas Gollin, Richard RogersonAbstract:Abstract A defining feature of many poor economies is the large fraction of workers engaged in subsistence agriculture. We develop a multi-sector multi-region model of a poor economy in which it is costly to Transport goods across regions in order to study this outcome. A key finding is that higher Transport Costs drive up the size of the agricultural workforce and the fraction in subsistence. In a calibrated version of our model we show that the effect of Transport productivity is quantitatively important in terms of both allocations and welfare.
