Limão, NunoVenables, Anthony J.2014-03-272014-03-272001-09World Bank Economic Reviewhttps://hdl.handle.net/10986/17438The authors use different data sets to investigate the dependence of transport costs on geography and infrastructure. Infrastructure is an important determinant of transport costs, especially for landlocked countries. Analysis of bilateral trade data confirms the importance of infrastructure and gives an estimate of the elasticity of trade flows with respect to the trade cost factor of around-3. A deterioration of infrastructure from the median to the 75th percentile raises transport costs by 12 percentage points and reduces trade volumes by 28 percent. Analysis of African trade flows indicates that their relatively low level is largely due to poor infrastructure.en-USCC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGOACCESS TO THE SEAAD VALOREMAIRBASIC TRANSPORTBILATERAL TRADECAPITALSCARGOCARRIAGECIFCOMMODITIESCOMMODITYCOMPONENT PARTSCONSTANT RETURNS TO SCALECONTAINER FACILITIESCONTAINERSCOSTS OF TRANSPORTCOSTS OF TRAVELCUSTOMSDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSECONOMETRICSECONOMIC PERFORMANCEECONOMIC STATISTICSELASTICITYEXPORTSFIXED COSTSFORWARDINGFREIGHTFREIGHT PAYMENTSFREIGHT RATESGDPGROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTHIGH TRANSPORTINCOME LEVELSINCREMENTAL COSTSINFRASTRUCTURESINSPECTIONINSURANCEINTERNATIONAL TRADEINTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTJOURNEYJOURNEYSLANDLOCKED COUNTRIESLONG-DISTANCEMARITIME TRANSPORTMONOPOLYPAVED ROADSPENALTIESPER CAPITA INCOMEPER CAPITA INCOMESPOLITICAL ECONOMYPORT INFRASTRUCTUREPORT OF ENTRYPRODUCTION FUNCTIONQUALITY OF TRANSITQUALITY OF TRANSPORTRAILRAIL NETWORKRAILWAYRAILWAYSRECONSTRUCTIONROADROAD NETWORKROADSROUTEROUTESSHIPPERSSHIPPINGSHIPPING COSTSSHIPPING INDUSTRYSTOCKSTOLLSTRADE BARRIERSTRADE FLOWSTRADE PERFORMANCETRADE POLICIESTRADE POLICYTRADE VOLUMETRADING BLOCSTRANSITTRANSIT COUNTRIESTRANSIT ELASTICITIESTRANSIT INFRASTRUCTURETRANSIT TIMESTRANSIT TRADETRANSPORTTRANSPORT COSTTRANSPORT COSTSTRANSPORT ECONOMICSTRANSPORT INDICATORSTRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURETRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURESTRANSPORT POLICIESTRANSPORT SECTORTRANSPORT SERVICESTRANSPORT STRATEGYTRANSPORTATIONTRANSPORTATION COSTSTRIPTRIPSTRUCKSTRUEUNDERESTIMATESVALUE ADDEDJournal ArticleWorld Bank10.1596/17438