There Goes Gravity : How eBay Reduces Trade Costs
This paper compares the impact of distance, a standard proxy for trade costs, on eBay and offline international trade flows. It considers the same set of 62 countries and the same basket of goods for both types of transactions, and finds the effect...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/10/16878203/goes-gravity-ebay-reduces-trade-costs http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12107 |
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okr-10986-121072021-04-23T14:02:59Z There Goes Gravity : How eBay Reduces Trade Costs Lendle, Andreas Schropp, Simon Olarreaga, Marcelo Vézina, Pierre-Louis ACCESS TO THE INTERNET AGGREGATE TRADE AGGREGATE TRADE FLOWS ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION AUCTION AUCTIONS AVERAGE TARIFFS AVERAGE TRADE B2C BACK UP BASKET OF GOODS BILATERAL IMPORTS BILATERAL TRADE BILATERAL TRADE DATA BUSINESSES BUYER BUYERS CHANGES IN TRADE COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY CONSUMER ELECTRONICS CONSUMER GOODS CONSUMERS CROSS-BORDER TRANSACTIONS DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIRECT SALES E-COMMERCE ECONOMIC RESEARCH ELASTICITY ELASTICITY OF SUBSTITUTION ELASTICITY OF TRADE EMAILS ESP EXPORTERS EXPORTING COUNTRIES EXPORTING COUNTRY EXPORTS FAXES FREE TRADE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT FREIGHT GDP GINI COEFFICIENT GLOBAL MARKETS GLOBAL TRADE GLOBALIZATION GRAVITY EQUATION GRAVITY ESTIMATES GRAVITY FRAMEWORK GRAVITY MODEL GRAVITY MODELS HOME PHONES IMAGE IMPACT OF TRADE IMPORT VALUE IMPORTING COUNTRY INCOME INCOME INEQUALITY INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS INSTITUTION INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL TRADE IP LEGAL SYSTEM LEGAL SYSTEMS MARGINAL EFFECTS MARKET FAILURES MARKET STRUCTURE NETWORKS OCEAN TRANSPORT ONLINE PRODUCTS ONLINE TRANSACTIONS OPEN ACCESS PANEL REPORTS PC PHONE POLICY RESEARCH PRODUCT CATEGORIES PRODUCT CATEGORY PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION PRODUCT INFORMATION PROTECTIONIST PRESSURES REAL INCOME REGIONALIZATION RESULT SEARCH RESULTS SHIPMENTS SHIPPING SHIPPING COSTS TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TRADE AGREEMENT TRADE AGREEMENTS TRADE BALANCE TRADE COSTS TRADE DATA TRADE FLOWS TRADE MODELS TRADE MORE TRADE PATTERNS TRADE POLICY USERS USES VIDEO WAGES WEB WELFARE GAINS WORLD MARKETS WORLD TRADE WTO This paper compares the impact of distance, a standard proxy for trade costs, on eBay and offline international trade flows. It considers the same set of 62 countries and the same basket of goods for both types of transactions, and finds the effect of distance to be on average 65 percent smaller on the eBay online platform than offline. Using interaction variables, this difference is explained by a reduction of information and trust frictions enabled through online technology. The analysis estimates the welfare gains from a reduction in offline frictions to the level prevailing online at 29 percent on average. Remote countries that are little known, with weak institutions, high levels of income inequality, inefficient ports, and little internet penetration benefit the most, as online markets help overcome government and offline market failures. 2013-01-04T21:12:36Z 2013-01-04T21:12:36Z 2012-10 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/10/16878203/goes-gravity-ebay-reduces-trade-costs http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12107 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6253 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
ACCESS TO THE INTERNET AGGREGATE TRADE AGGREGATE TRADE FLOWS ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION AUCTION AUCTIONS AVERAGE TARIFFS AVERAGE TRADE B2C BACK UP BASKET OF GOODS BILATERAL IMPORTS BILATERAL TRADE BILATERAL TRADE DATA BUSINESSES BUYER BUYERS CHANGES IN TRADE COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY CONSUMER ELECTRONICS CONSUMER GOODS CONSUMERS CROSS-BORDER TRANSACTIONS DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIRECT SALES E-COMMERCE ECONOMIC RESEARCH ELASTICITY ELASTICITY OF SUBSTITUTION ELASTICITY OF TRADE EMAILS ESP EXPORTERS EXPORTING COUNTRIES EXPORTING COUNTRY EXPORTS FAXES FREE TRADE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT FREIGHT GDP GINI COEFFICIENT GLOBAL MARKETS GLOBAL TRADE GLOBALIZATION GRAVITY EQUATION GRAVITY ESTIMATES GRAVITY FRAMEWORK GRAVITY MODEL GRAVITY MODELS HOME PHONES IMAGE IMPACT OF TRADE IMPORT VALUE IMPORTING COUNTRY INCOME INCOME INEQUALITY INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS INSTITUTION INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL TRADE IP LEGAL SYSTEM LEGAL SYSTEMS MARGINAL EFFECTS MARKET FAILURES MARKET STRUCTURE NETWORKS OCEAN TRANSPORT ONLINE PRODUCTS ONLINE TRANSACTIONS OPEN ACCESS PANEL REPORTS PC PHONE POLICY RESEARCH PRODUCT CATEGORIES PRODUCT CATEGORY PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION PRODUCT INFORMATION PROTECTIONIST PRESSURES REAL INCOME REGIONALIZATION RESULT SEARCH RESULTS SHIPMENTS SHIPPING SHIPPING COSTS TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TRADE AGREEMENT TRADE AGREEMENTS TRADE BALANCE TRADE COSTS TRADE DATA TRADE FLOWS TRADE MODELS TRADE MORE TRADE PATTERNS TRADE POLICY USERS USES VIDEO WAGES WEB WELFARE GAINS WORLD MARKETS WORLD TRADE WTO |
| spellingShingle |
ACCESS TO THE INTERNET AGGREGATE TRADE AGGREGATE TRADE FLOWS ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION AUCTION AUCTIONS AVERAGE TARIFFS AVERAGE TRADE B2C BACK UP BASKET OF GOODS BILATERAL IMPORTS BILATERAL TRADE BILATERAL TRADE DATA BUSINESSES BUYER BUYERS CHANGES IN TRADE COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY CONSUMER ELECTRONICS CONSUMER GOODS CONSUMERS CROSS-BORDER TRANSACTIONS DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIRECT SALES E-COMMERCE ECONOMIC RESEARCH ELASTICITY ELASTICITY OF SUBSTITUTION ELASTICITY OF TRADE EMAILS ESP EXPORTERS EXPORTING COUNTRIES EXPORTING COUNTRY EXPORTS FAXES FREE TRADE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT FREIGHT GDP GINI COEFFICIENT GLOBAL MARKETS GLOBAL TRADE GLOBALIZATION GRAVITY EQUATION GRAVITY ESTIMATES GRAVITY FRAMEWORK GRAVITY MODEL GRAVITY MODELS HOME PHONES IMAGE IMPACT OF TRADE IMPORT VALUE IMPORTING COUNTRY INCOME INCOME INEQUALITY INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS INSTITUTION INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL TRADE IP LEGAL SYSTEM LEGAL SYSTEMS MARGINAL EFFECTS MARKET FAILURES MARKET STRUCTURE NETWORKS OCEAN TRANSPORT ONLINE PRODUCTS ONLINE TRANSACTIONS OPEN ACCESS PANEL REPORTS PC PHONE POLICY RESEARCH PRODUCT CATEGORIES PRODUCT CATEGORY PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION PRODUCT INFORMATION PROTECTIONIST PRESSURES REAL INCOME REGIONALIZATION RESULT SEARCH RESULTS SHIPMENTS SHIPPING SHIPPING COSTS TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TRADE AGREEMENT TRADE AGREEMENTS TRADE BALANCE TRADE COSTS TRADE DATA TRADE FLOWS TRADE MODELS TRADE MORE TRADE PATTERNS TRADE POLICY USERS USES VIDEO WAGES WEB WELFARE GAINS WORLD MARKETS WORLD TRADE WTO Lendle, Andreas Schropp, Simon Olarreaga, Marcelo Vézina, Pierre-Louis There Goes Gravity : How eBay Reduces Trade Costs |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6253 |
| description |
This paper compares the impact of
distance, a standard proxy for trade costs, on eBay and
offline international trade flows. It considers the same set
of 62 countries and the same basket of goods for both types
of transactions, and finds the effect of distance to be on
average 65 percent smaller on the eBay online platform than
offline. Using interaction variables, this difference is
explained by a reduction of information and trust frictions
enabled through online technology. The analysis estimates
the welfare gains from a reduction in offline frictions to
the level prevailing online at 29 percent on average. Remote
countries that are little known, with weak institutions,
high levels of income inequality, inefficient ports, and
little internet penetration benefit the most, as online
markets help overcome government and offline market failures. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| author |
Lendle, Andreas Schropp, Simon Olarreaga, Marcelo Vézina, Pierre-Louis |
| author_facet |
Lendle, Andreas Schropp, Simon Olarreaga, Marcelo Vézina, Pierre-Louis |
| author_sort |
Lendle, Andreas |
| title |
There Goes Gravity : How eBay Reduces Trade Costs |
| title_short |
There Goes Gravity : How eBay Reduces Trade Costs |
| title_full |
There Goes Gravity : How eBay Reduces Trade Costs |
| title_fullStr |
There Goes Gravity : How eBay Reduces Trade Costs |
| title_full_unstemmed |
There Goes Gravity : How eBay Reduces Trade Costs |
| title_sort |
there goes gravity : how ebay reduces trade costs |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2013 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/10/16878203/goes-gravity-ebay-reduces-trade-costs http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12107 |
| _version_ |
1764419009758887936 |