Abstract

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. Document type: Article

Abstract

Çekyay, Bora (Dogus Author) -- Palut, Peral Toktaş (Dogus Author) -- Özaydın, Özay (Dogus Author) We explore whether bilateral and transit quotas applied by EU countries on Turkey have a negative impact on Turkey's international trade by road transport. Therefore, Turkey's exports by road transport to selected European countries are analyzed in a panel-data framework for the period 2005–2014. We estimate the aggregate effect of different quota types on trade between Turkey and European countries by using an approach that integrates the max-flow and gravity models. In the gravity model, for each country, a single value representing the aggregate restricting effect of different quota types is needed. The single values are obtained by solving multiple max-flow problems, where constraining effects of different quota types are modeled as arc capacities. The results of the gravity model suggest a loss in Turkish exports by road transport because of the quotas imposed by other countries. Most of the negative impact results from bilateral quotas rather than from transit quotas, whose effect is rather marginal.