Airplanes and comparative advantage
By: James Harrigan.
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 11688; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 11688.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Aeronautics, Commercial -- Economic aspects.; Transit, International.; Imports -- Prices -- United States.
Description: "Airplanes are a fast but expensive means of shipping goods, a fact which has implications for comparative advantage.  The paper develops a Ricardian three-country model with a continuum of goods which vary by weight and hence transport cost.  Comparative advantage depends on relative air and surface transport costs across countries and goods, as well as stochastic productivity.  In the model, countries that are far from their export markets will have low wages and tend to specialize in high value/weight products, which will be shipped on airplanes.  Less remote exporters will have higher wages, and will tend to specialize in low value/weight products which will be sent by ship, train, or truck.  These implications are confirmed using detailed data on U.S.  imports from 1990 to 2003.  Distance from the US is associated with much higher import unit values, an indication that the model identifies a quantitatively important influence on specialization and trade"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Title from PDF file as viewed on 11/17/2005.
Also available in print.
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Mode of access: World Wide Web.