Technology and Geography in the Second Industrial Revolution: New Evidence from the Margins of Trade

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Universite de Montreal; University of California System; University of California Davis; Universite Libre de Bruxelles
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050717000018
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 39-89
• 关键词: INTERNATIONAL-TRADE; heterogeneous firms; Extensive margins; freight rates; 1st wave; PRODUCTIVITY; gravity; GLOBALIZATION; GROWTH; LIBERALIZATION

摘要

Belle Epoque Belgium recorded an unprecedented trade boom. Exploiting a new granular trade dataset, we find that the number of products delivered abroad and destinations serviced more than doubled in less than 40 years. To explain this remarkable achievement, we study the relationship between trade costs and the intensive and extensive margins of trade. The establishment of a foreign diplomatic network that lowered beachhead costs and enabled the entry of new products was an essential fact of the trade boom. Interestingly, the expansion in trade in certain sectors did not translate into faster productivity growth. We offer some explanations.