There goes gravity: how eBay reduces trade costs

Marcelo Olarreaga, Andreas Lendle, Pierre-Louis Vézina and Simon Schropp

No 9094, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We compare the impact of distance, a standard proxy for trade costs, on eBay and offline international trade flows. We consider the same set of 62 countries and the same basket of goods for both types of transactions. We find the effect of distance to be on average 65 percent smaller on the eBay online platform than offline. Using interaction variables, we show this difference is explained by a reduction of information and trust frictions enabled through online technology. We estimate the welfare gains from a reduction in offline frictions to the level prevailing online at 29 percent on average.

Keywords: Ebay; Gravity; Online trade; Trade costs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F10 F13 L81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (30)

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Working Paper: There Goes Gravity: How eBay Reduces Trade Costs (2012)
Working Paper: There goes gravity: how eBay reduces trade costs (2012)
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