Rigidities in Transportation and Supply Chain Disruptions

Giulia Brancaccio, Myrto Kalouptsidi and Theodore Papageorgiou

AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2025, vol. 115, 543-50

Abstract: In this paper, we provide a simple and intuitive story for supply chain disruptions driven by the rigidities in the transportation sector. Focusing on maritime shipping, we argue that the frequent macroeconomic shocks that shape demand for transportation meet a highly inelastic supply curve for transportation services. The steepness is driven by equilibrium bottlenecks in ships (transportation agents) and ports (transportation infrastructure). This leads to highly volatile shipping prices and port congestion, affecting importers and exporters worldwide. We discuss how both global trade and inflation react to these costs so that disruptions pass through to the entire economy.

JEL-codes: E31 F14 L14 L91 L92 R41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pandp.20251079 (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/materials/23202 (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Rigidities in Transportation and Supply Chain Disruptions (2025)
Working Paper: Rigidities in Transportation and Supply Chain Disruptions (2025)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:apandp:v:115:y:2025:p:543-50

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/subscribe.html

DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20251079

Access Statistics for this article

AEA Papers and Proceedings is currently edited by William Johnson and Kelly Markel

More articles in AEA Papers and Proceedings from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().