Economic geography aspects of the Panama Canal

Stephan Maurer and Ferdinand Rauch

Oxford Economic Papers, 2023, vol. 75, issue 1, 142-162

Abstract: This paper studies how the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 changed counties’ market potential and influenced the economic geography of the USA. We compute shipment effective distances with and without the canal from each US county to each other US county and to international ports and compute the resulting change in market potential. The main elasticity would imply that a 1% increase in market potential led to a total increase of population by around 2.3% in 1940. We compute similar elasticities for wages, land values, and immigration from out of state. Tradable (manufacturing) industries react stronger than non-tradable (services) industries.

JEL-codes: F1 N72 O1 R1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Related works:
Working Paper: Economic geography aspects of the Panama Canal (2019)
Working Paper: Economic Geography Aspects of the Panama Canal (2019)
Working Paper: Economic geography aspects of the Panama Canal (2019)
Working Paper: Economic Geography Aspects of the Panama Canal (2019)
Working Paper: Economic Geography Aspects of the Panama Canal (2019)
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