Transport Costs and International Trade

The first issue we study is the impact of transport costs on the volume and nature of international trade.� To what extent has the rise in international trade been driven by changes in transport costs?� Why is cross-country and cross-regional experience so different?� Transport costs also influence modal choice, the commodity composition of trade and the organisation of production, particularly as 'just-in-time' methods get extended to the global level.� In turn, these new production methods are placing increasing demands on the transport system.� The second issue is the determinants of international transport costs.� There is enormous cross-country variation in transport costs and in trade costs more generally.� To what extent are these determined by geography, infrastructure deficiencies or institutional barriers?� Through time, the evidence is that transport costs have not fallen as much as many people might expect.� We explore this paradox.Trade costs, Gravity equation, Trade infrastructure, Trade facilitation