全球智库信息集成服务系统(G2TT): DP13515 Let There Be Light: Trade and the Development of Border Regions

G2TT

来源类型	Discussion paper
规范类型	论文
来源ID	DP13515
	DP13515 Let There Be Light: Trade and the Development of Border Regions
	Marius Brülhart; Olivier Cadot; Alexander Himbert
发表日期	2019-02-08
出版年	2019
语种	英语
摘要	Does international trade help or hinder the economic development of border regions relative to interior regions? Theory tends to suggest that trade helps, but it can also predict the reverse. The question is policy relevant as regions near land borders are generally poorer, and sometimes more prone to civil conflict, than interior regions. We therefore estimate how changes in bilateral trade volumes affect economic activity along roads running inland from international borders, using satellite night-light measurements for 2,186 border-crossing roads in 138 countries. We observe a significant 'border shadow': on average, lights are 37 percent dimmer at the border than 200 kilometers inland. We find this difference to be reduced by trade expansion as measured by exports and instrumented with tariffs on the opposite side of the border. At the mean, a doubling of exports to a particular neighbor country reduces the gradient of light from the border by some 23 percent. This qualitative finding applies to developed and developing countries, and to rural and urban border regions. Proximity to cities on either side of the border amplifies the effects of trade. We provide evidence that local export-oriented production is a significant mechanism behind the observed effects.
主题	International Trade and Regional Economics
关键词	Trade liberalization Border regions Economic geography Night lights data
URL	https://cepr.org/publications/dp13515
来源智库	Centre for Economic Policy Research (United Kingdom)
资源类型	智库出版物
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.153/handle/2XGU8XDN/542331
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Marius Brülhart,Olivier Cadot,Alexander Himbert. DP13515 Let There Be Light: Trade and the Development of Border Regions. 2019.