Technical progress can be expected to reduce transport costs over time, yet most studies of bilateral trade based on the gravity model find distance effects to be increasing rather than decreasing. We investigate countries' openness to international trade (the ratio of exports plus imports to...

A significant part of world trade volume is transported by container ship today. Growing world trade will enforce containerization, since standardized shipment reduces transport costs. The research aim of this paper is to identify the impact of variables used in merchandise trade flow models,...