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Trade Costs and Trade Composition

Danny McGowan and Chris Milner

Discussion Papers from University of Nottingham, GEP

Abstract: Do trade costs have consequences other than on the volume of international trade? In this paper we investigate whether countries’ trade costs act like other national endowments by affecting the composition of countries’ exports. Using an econometric approach that controls for endogeneity by accounting for potentially relevant omitted variables we find strong evidence for a sample of 37 industrialised and transition countries that national trade costs systematically affect the composition of trade and can be viewed therefore as a source of comparative advantage. Industries located in countries with low trade costs capture significantly higher shares of world exports where this effect is stronger in trade cost intensive industries.

Keywords: Trade costs; comparative advantage; endowments; exports (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:not:notgep:11/11

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