GLOBAL TRADE AND THE MARITIME TRANSPORT REVOLUTION

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Jacks, David S.; Pendakur, Krishna
• 署名单位: Simon Fraser University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/REST_a_00026
• 发表日期: 2010-11
• 页码: 745-755
• 关键词: factor-price convergence; world-trade; COSTS

摘要

What is the role of transport improvements in globalization? We argue that the nineteenth century is the ideal testing ground: maritime freight rates fell on average by 50% while global trade increased 400% from 1870 to 1913. We estimate the first indices of bilateral freight rates and directly incorporate these into a standard gravity model. We also take the endogeneity of bilateral trade and freight rates seriously and propose an instrumental variables approach. The results are striking: we find no evidence that the maritime transport revolution was the primary driver of the late-nineteenth-century global trade boom.