Trade Costs, Time, and Supply Chain Reliability
Date
2018-06
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Abstract
Description
South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation countries have to invest in improving connectivity to reduce transport times and increase reliability to major markets.
This paper uses measures of international transport time in median and standard deviation based on shipment-level data from the Universal Postal Union, to analyze the effect of time on trade costs. The results show that median shipping times increase trade costs by a substantial amount. The determinants of shipping times are also analyzed and find that geographical distance is the most reliable indicator of median time and uncertainty, with logistics performance also playing a role in determining shipment times.