American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Transport Costs and the Geography of Arbitrage in Eighteenth-Century China
American Economic Review
vol. 92,
no. 5, December 2002
(pp. 1406–1419)
Abstract
Trade has been considered a condition for growth and development, a view that might have merits in explaining the rise of the Western world. I use a new data set from archival sources of eighteenth-century China to revisit this question. This analysis suggests previous studies of market integration, which attribute much growth to a reduction in transport costs, have overestimated these effects. I find the overall level of market integration in China was higher than previously thought, and, intertemporal effects are important substitutes for trade. Both factors reduce the importance of trade as a unique explanation for subsequent growth.Citation
Shiue, Carol, H. 2002. "Transport Costs and the Geography of Arbitrage in Eighteenth-Century China ." American Economic Review, 92 (5): 1406–1419. DOI: 10.1257/000282802762024566JEL Classification
- N75 Economic History: Transport, Trade, Energy, Technology, and Other Services: Asia including Middle East
- P33 Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions: International Trade, Finance, Investment, Relations, and Aid
- N95 Regional and Urban History: Asia including Middle East
- P25 Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
- R11 Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
- R12 Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity