Submitted by Thibault Fally on
The primary goal of this project is to research data (and related articles) about the type and source of transportation services, and/or develop methods to link such information to trade flows between countries or between regions (e.g. between US states). Our starting point is the following observation about the limitations of typically available data on trade and transportation. On the one hand, we tend to have very precise trade data across fine product categories, by exporting and importing country. On the other hand, macroeconomic data provide information on the size and growth of transportation sectors in most countries, but such information is generally not linked to specific flows of goods (trade) or people between countries or regions. Combining microdata across several countries or across modes of transport (e.g. on shipping or trucking) might help us bridge this gap in terms of data between trade and transportation.
In a second step, if relevant data have been obtained, the project may include a preliminary econometric analysis. We aim to examine the role of third countries as providers of transportation services (as opposed to the importer or exporter), pricing decisions depending on the trade network and the source of transportation services, as well as markups or markdowns driven by backhauling (or deadheading) and matching frictions across the various modes of transportation.
As described in the project, the role of the student would be: 1) to look for datasets across various countries or modes of transportation, combining data on trade and transportation services; 2) to start examining such data (simple stats, matching, etc.) in Stata or preferred data analysis solfware (sime tasks could be done in excel); 3) and, if the student desires, help us think about the theoretical framework to guide our analysis.
1) Be able to search and gather data in various places and various formats;
2) be able to perform some simple econometric analysis (advanced econometrics not required).
3) We would strongly prefer students with some knowledge & interest in International Trade (e.g. having taken EEP/Econ C181).