TRADE AND THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE SPATIAL ECONOMY

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Allen, Treb; Arkolakis, Costas
• 署名单位: National Bureau of Economic Research; Yale University
• 刊物名称: QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-5533
• DOI: 10.1093/qje/qju016
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 1085-1140
• 关键词: increasing returns; geographic concentration; INTERNATIONAL-TRADE; gravity; MODEL; transportation; equilibria; EQUATIONS; responses; gains

摘要

We develop a general equilibrium framework to determine the spatial distribution of economic activity on any surface with (nearly) any geography. Combining the gravity structure of trade with labor mobility, we provide conditions for the existence, uniqueness, and stability of a spatial economic equilibrium and derive a simple set of equations that govern the relationship between economic activity and the geography of the surface. We then use the framework to estimate the topography of trade costs, productivities and amenities in the United States. We find that geographic location accounts for at least twenty percent of the spatial variation in U. S. income. Finally, we calculate that the construction of the interstate highway system increased welfare by 1.1 to 1.4 percent, which is substantially larger than its cost.