The paper provides evidence of the effects of changes in transport costs on the geographic concentration of industries. The analysis uses micro-level commodity flow data and micro-geographic plant-level data to construct industry-specific ad valorem trucking rates and continuous measures of...

Our objective is threefold. First, we explain how to estimate transport costs and the geographic concentration of industries using trucking microdata and geocoded plant-level data. Second, we document that transport costs explain between 25% to 57% of the observed relationship between trade and...

We develop a multi-country Dixit-Stiglitz trade model and analyze how industry location and welfare respond to changes in: (i) transport frictions (e.g., infrastructure, transportation technology); and (ii) non-transport frictions (e.g., tariffs, standards and regulations). We show that changes...