This is the third edition of connecting to compete: trade logistics in the global economy. At its heart is the Logistics Performance Index (LPI), which the World Bank has produced every two years since 2007. The LPI measures on-the-ground trade logistics performance this year, in 155 countries...

The LPI has provided valuable information for policy makers, traders, and other stakeholders, including researchers and academics, on the role of logistics for growth and the policies needed to support logistics in areas such as infrastructure planning, service provision, and crossborder trade...

Improving logistics performance is at the core of the economic growth and competitiveness agenda. Policymakers globally recognize the logistics sector as one of their key pillars for development. Trade powerhouses in Europe like the Netherlands or in developing countries like Vietnam or...

This report presents the findings of the second edition of Connecting to Compete, a report on the new dataset for the 2010 Logistics Performance Index (LPI) and its component indicators. Based on a worldwide survey of global freight forwarders and express carriers, the LPI is a benchmarking tool...

This paper shows that networked trade in parts and components is more sensitive to the importing country's logistics performance than is trade in final goods. In the baseline specification, the difference between the two trade semi-elasticities is around 45 percent, which suggests that the...

The authors use newly collected data on trade and production in 178 countries to infer estimates of trade costs in agriculture and manufactured goods for the 1995-2010 period. The data show that trade costs are strongly declining in per capita income. Moreover, the rate of change of trade costs...

The authors construct a new measure of connectivity in the global air transport network, covering 211 countries and territories for the year 2007. It is grounded in network analysis methods, and is based on a gravity-like model that is familiar from the international trade and regional science...