High trade costs pose substantial barriers to the process of trade liberalization. This study aims to measure trade … from 1993 to 2019. Using a micro-founded measure of trade costs derived from the gravity model, we find that Cambodia …’s average trade costs decreased by 35.43 percent between 1993 and 2019. Fluctuations in average trade costs persisted until 2014 …

We develop and test a theory of efficient international trade. Efficiency gains arise through lower trade costs faced … by 'trade specialists', whose superiority over 'common traders' manifests itself through lower trade costs. To test our …, the trade costs for the 'trade specialists' are about four times lower than for non-specialists. The corresponding welfare …

attributed to high trade costs, either because these countries are landlocked or due to border delays and regulatory obstacles …