Entrepôt: Hubs, Scale, and Trade Costs

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ganapati, Sharat; Wong, Woan foong; Ziv, Oren
• 署名单位: Georgetown University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Oregon; Michigan State University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MACROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7707
• DOI: 10.1257/mac.20220250
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 239-278
• 关键词: Geography; gravity

摘要

We study the global trade network and quantify its trade and welfare impact. We document that the trade network is a hub-and-spoke system where 80 percent of trade is shipped indirectly and largely via entrep & ocirc;ts-major hubs that facilitate trade between many origins and destinations. We estimate indirect-shipping-consistent trade costs using a model where shipments can be sent indirectly through an endogenous transport network and develop a geography-based instrument to estimate scale economies in shipping. Network and scale effects propagate local trade cost changes globally. Counterfactual infrastructure improvements at entrep & ocirc;ts generate ten times the global welfare impact relative to nonentrep & ocirc;ts. ( JEL F12, F14, L92)