MEASURING LONG-TERM COMMODITY-LEVEL TRADE COSTS: THE CASE OF ASIA

Despite its several inherent weaknesses, Doing Business compiled by the World Bank is still the most widely used assessment of the trade facilitation status among developing country policymakers as well as economists. In this paper, we suggest that the use of trade costs calculated based on trade statistics in conjunction with Doing Business data is helpful in drawing up sector-specific trade facilitation policies. Unlike Doing Business, we can obtain long-term commodity-level trade costs if trade statistics are used.