How Much Will the Belt and Road Initiative Reduce Trade Costs?

This paper studies the impact of transport infrastructure projects of the Belt and Road Initiative on shipment times and trade costs. Based on a new data on completed and planned Belt and Road transport projects, Geographic Information System analy...

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Main Authors: de Soyres, Francois, Mulabdic, Alen, Murray, Siobhan, Rocha, Nadia, Ruta, Michele
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/592771539630482582/How-Much-Will-the-Belt-and-Road-Initiative-Reduce-Trade-Costs
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30582
id okr-10986-30582
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-305822022-09-20T00:13:52Z How Much Will the Belt and Road Initiative Reduce Trade Costs? de Soyres, Francois Mulabdic, Alen Murray, Siobhan Rocha, Nadia Ruta, Michele BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE TRANSPORTATION COST TRADE COSTS TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE SHIPMENT TIMES GIS ANALYSIS GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM This paper studies the impact of transport infrastructure projects of the Belt and Road Initiative on shipment times and trade costs. Based on a new data on completed and planned Belt and Road transport projects, Geographic Information System analysis is used to estimate shipment times before and after the Belt and Road Initiative. Two sets of data are computed to address different research questions: a global database based on an analysis of 1,000 cities in 191 countries and 47 sectors and a regional database that focuses on more granular information (1,818 cities) for Belt and Road economies only. The paper uses sectoral estimates of “value of time” to transform changes in shipment times into changes in ad valorem trade costs at the country-sector level. The findings show that the Belt and Road Initiative will significantly reduce shipment times and trade costs. For the world, the average reduction in shipment time will range between 1.2 and 2.5 percent, leading to reduction of aggregate trade costs between 1.1 and 2.2 percent. For Belt and Road economies, the change in shipment times and trade costs will range between 1.7 and 3.2 percent and 1.5 and 2.8 percent, respectively. Belt and Road economies located along the corridors where projects are built experience the largest gains. Shipment times along these corridors decline by up to 11.9 percent and trade costs by up to 10.2 percent. The paper also shows that these effects are magnified by policy reforms that reduce border delays and improve corridor management. 2018-10-16T21:03:33Z 2018-10-16T21:03:33Z 2018-10 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/592771539630482582/How-Much-Will-the-Belt-and-Road-Initiative-Reduce-Trade-Costs http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30582 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8614 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa East Asia and Pacific Central Asia East Africa East Asia Eastern Europe China
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE
TRANSPORTATION COST
TRADE COSTS
TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE
SHIPMENT TIMES
GIS ANALYSIS
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM
spellingShingle BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE
TRANSPORTATION COST
TRADE COSTS
TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE
SHIPMENT TIMES
GIS ANALYSIS
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM
de Soyres, Francois
Mulabdic, Alen
Murray, Siobhan
Rocha, Nadia
Ruta, Michele
How Much Will the Belt and Road Initiative Reduce Trade Costs?
geographic_facet Africa
East Asia and Pacific
Central Asia
East Africa
East Asia
Eastern Europe
China
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8614
description This paper studies the impact of transport infrastructure projects of the Belt and Road Initiative on shipment times and trade costs. Based on a new data on completed and planned Belt and Road transport projects, Geographic Information System analysis is used to estimate shipment times before and after the Belt and Road Initiative. Two sets of data are computed to address different research questions: a global database based on an analysis of 1,000 cities in 191 countries and 47 sectors and a regional database that focuses on more granular information (1,818 cities) for Belt and Road economies only. The paper uses sectoral estimates of “value of time” to transform changes in shipment times into changes in ad valorem trade costs at the country-sector level. The findings show that the Belt and Road Initiative will significantly reduce shipment times and trade costs. For the world, the average reduction in shipment time will range between 1.2 and 2.5 percent, leading to reduction of aggregate trade costs between 1.1 and 2.2 percent. For Belt and Road economies, the change in shipment times and trade costs will range between 1.7 and 3.2 percent and 1.5 and 2.8 percent, respectively. Belt and Road economies located along the corridors where projects are built experience the largest gains. Shipment times along these corridors decline by up to 11.9 percent and trade costs by up to 10.2 percent. The paper also shows that these effects are magnified by policy reforms that reduce border delays and improve corridor management.
format Working Paper
author de Soyres, Francois
Mulabdic, Alen
Murray, Siobhan
Rocha, Nadia
Ruta, Michele
author_facet de Soyres, Francois
Mulabdic, Alen
Murray, Siobhan
Rocha, Nadia
Ruta, Michele
author_sort de Soyres, Francois
title How Much Will the Belt and Road Initiative Reduce Trade Costs?
title_short How Much Will the Belt and Road Initiative Reduce Trade Costs?
title_full How Much Will the Belt and Road Initiative Reduce Trade Costs?
title_fullStr How Much Will the Belt and Road Initiative Reduce Trade Costs?
title_full_unstemmed How Much Will the Belt and Road Initiative Reduce Trade Costs?
title_sort how much will the belt and road initiative reduce trade costs?
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2018
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/592771539630482582/How-Much-Will-the-Belt-and-Road-Initiative-Reduce-Trade-Costs
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30582
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