Transportation Costs and International Trade Over Time
David Hummels
David Hummels is Associate Professor of Economics, Purdue University, West Lafayette,
Indiana. His e-mail address is .
Abstract:
While the precise causes of post-war trade growth are not well understood, declines in
transport costs top the lists of usual suspects. However, there is remarkably little systematic
evidence documenting the decline. This paper brings to bear an eclectic mix of data in order to
provide a detailed accounting of the time-series pattern of shipping costs. The ad-valorem
impact of ocean shipping costs is not much lower today than in the 1950s, with technological
advances largely trumped by adverse cost shocks. In contrast, air shipping costs have dropped
an order of magnitude, and airborne trade has grown rapidly as a result. As a result, international
trade has also experienced a significant rise in speed.
2
Over the past five decades, world trade grew......
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Approximate Word Count: 9647
Approximate Pages: 38 (260 words per double-spaced page) |