The authors argue that endogeneity of transportation costs needs to be taken into account when estimating the effect of distance on trade. Otherwise, the estimates of the distance effect may be biased and inconsistent. Endogenous transportation can introduce slope heterogeneity and spatial...

Cocaine trafficking has a significant but understudied influence on Central American economies. The economic implications of this trade have repercussions for both regional development and drug control policy debates, and therefore deserve greater attention. Towards that end, in this paper we...

Will a major shock awaken US citizens to the threat of catastrophic pandemic risk? Using a natural experiment administered both before and after the 2014 West African Ebola Outbreak, our evidence suggests “no”. Our results show that prior to the Ebola scare, US citizens were relatively...

Developing countries pay substantially higher transportation costs than developed nations, which leads to less trade and perhaps lower incomes. This paper investigates price discrimination in the shipping industry and the role it plays in determining transportation costs. In the presence of...

We model demand for quality differentiated goods to derive a relationship between trade costs and the quality composition of trade. Detailed data on traded goods' prices, quantities and shipping costs for many importers and exporters are used to test these predictions. These data provide a...

The authors argue that endogeneity of transportation costs needs to be taken into account when estimating the effect of distance on trade. Otherwise, the estimates of the distance effect may be biased and inconsistent. Endogenous transportation can introduce slope heterogeneity and spatial...

This study investigates the effects of the transportation cost on the international trade. The first essay explores the effect of the transportation cost on the quality composition of trade. We derive a relationship between per unit and ad-valorem trade costs and the quality composition of trade...