We use newly collected data on trade and production in 178 countries to infer estimates of trade costs in agriculture and manufactured goods for the 1995-2010 period. The data show that trade costs are strongly declining in per capita income. Moreover, the rate of change of trade costs is...

Extensive research has demonstrated the existence of large potential welfare gains from trade facilitation - measures to reduce the overall costs of the international movement of goods. From an equity perspective an important question is how those benefits are distributed across and within...

Extensive research has demonstrated the existence of large potential welfare gains from measures to facilitate trade - reduce trade costs - for African countries in particular. However, concerns have been expressed by policymakers regarding the distribution of the benefits and costs of trade...

This paper studies the impact of migrant children on their parents' occupation choice and wage income using a dataset from a household survey conducted in 2011. We find that the heads of migrant households with school-age children earn significantly less than those who left them at their place...

This paper quantifies the impact of international transport time on bilateral trade flows in goods using previously unexploited information drawn from a large dataset on international parcel delivery times. In line with previous work, we find that an extra day spent in international transit...

This paper uses a structural gravity model to show the effects of services policies on manufacturing exports. Whereas the previous literature has focused on indirect effects of policies - flowing through productivity effects in domestic services markets - we look at direct effects, namely the...

This paper uses a theory-based measure of productivity-based comparative advantage to examine the trade performance of developing Asian economies in manufacturing and services over the 1995-2011 period. We find that the growth in service exports was nearly as rapid as that in manufacturing over...

This paper examines the trade participation of Bangladesh's manufacturing firms using a three-year panel. It distinguishes between extensive and intensive margin effects using a Heckman sample selection model. Particular attention is paid to the role of imported intermediates and inward foreign...

Some services directly produce outputs that are important for human development, such as basic human services. Many other services are important inputs into the production and distribution of goods that are necessary for human development purposes. A more efficient services sector should mean...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify major challenges that Asia-Pacific policy makers face in drawing up international logistics policies, and to seek possible solutions to the problems. Design/methodology/approach – Case study method: the paper includes seven case studies that...