Publication: Trading on Time
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2010
ISSN
00346535
Published
2010
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
We determine how time delays affect trade, using newly collected data on the days it takes to move standard cargo from the factory gate to the ship in 98 countries. We estimate a difference gravity equation and find that each additional day that a product is delayed prior to being shipped reduces trade by more than 1%. Put differently, each day is equivalent to a country distancing itself from its trade partners by about 70 km on average. We also find that delays have a relatively greater impact on exports of time-sensitive goods, such as perishable agricultural products.
Link to Data Set
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Citations
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Trading on Time(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-05)The authors determine how time delays affect international trade using newly collected World Bank data on the days it takes to move standard cargo from the factory gate to the ship in 126 countries. They estimate a modified gravity equation, controlling for endogeneity and remoteness. On average, each additional day that a product is delayed prior to being shipped reduces trade by at least 1 percent. Put differently, each day is equivalent to a country distancing itself from its trade partners by 70 kilometers on average. Delays have an even greater impact on developing country exports and exports of time-sensitive goods, such as perishable agricultural products. In particular, a day's delay reduces a country's relative exports of time-sensitive to time-insensitive agricultural goods by 6 percent.Publication China and Central and Eastern European Countries : Regional Networks, Global Supply Chain or International Competitors?(2009)China has become leading recipients of foreign direct investment (FDI). Meanwhile, an increasing share of global FDI is going to many Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs). What is the relationship between inward FDI of China and the CEECs? We conceptualize the relationship according to three alternative paradigms: (1) China and the CEECs each exist in its own regional production network, with no linkage between FDI flows into China and into CEECs; (2) China and the CEECs together comprise a global production network, so that China's FDI is positively related to CEECs' FDI; and (3) FDI into China is a substitute for FDI into the CEECs, with the correlation being negative. In this paper, we study empirical estimates of this issue for 15 CEECs for 1990-2004 using four different econometric approaches: FGLS with Random effects, FGLS with fixed effects, EC2SLS and GMM. The result supports the conclusion that China's inward FDI does not crowd out CEECs' inward FDI. In fact, it shows that in some regressions FDI flows in these two regions are moderately complementary. Our analysis also confirms the importance for FDI flows of determinants such as market size, degree of trade liberalization, labor quality and a healthy global FDI supply.Publication Disintegration and Trade Flows : Evidence from the Former Soviet Union(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2000-06)The authors study the effects of trade barriers and the persistence of past linkages on trade flows in the former Soviet Union. Estimating a gravity equation on trade among and between nine Russian regions and 14 former Soviet republics, they find that Russian regions traded 60 percent more with each other than with republics in the reform period (1994-96). By contrast, the Russian regions did not trade significantly more with each other than with republics in the pre-reform period (1987-90). The results suggest that the bias toward domestic trade in the reform period is primarily the result of tariffs. In addition, past linkages-such as infrastructure, business networks, and production and consumption chains-have limited the reorientation of trade.Publication Carbon Labelling and Low-Income Country Exports: A Review of the Development Issues(2009)This article discusses the carbon accounting and carbon-labelling schemes being developed to address growing concerns over climate change. Its particular concern is their impact on small stakeholders, especially low-income countries. The popular belief that trade is by definition problematic is not true; carbon efficiencies elsewhere in the supply chain may more than offset emissions from transportation. Indeed, low-income countries may offer important opportunities for carbon emission reductions because of their favourable climatic conditions and use of low energy-intensive production techniques. However, their effective inclusion in labelling schemes will require innovative solutions to provide low-cost data collection and certification.Publication Trade, Regulations, and Income(2008)We examine the relationship between openness and per-capita income using cross-country data from 126 countries. We find that trade leads to a higher standard of living in flexible economies, but not in rigid economies. Business regulation, especially on firm entry, is more important than financial development, higher education, or rule of law as a complementary policy to trade liberalization. Specifically, after controlling for the standard determinants of per-capita income, our results imply that a 1% increase in trade is associated with more than a one-half percent rise in per-capita income in economies that facilitate firm entry, but has no positive income effects in more rigid economies. The findings are consistent with Schumpeterian "creative destruction", which highlights the importance of new business entry in economic performance, and with previous firm-level studies showing that the beneficial effects of trade liberalization come largely from an intra-sectoral reallocation of resources.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
No results found.