Distance, Time, and Specialization / Carolyn L. Evans, James Harrigan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Evans, Carolyn L.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Harrigan, James.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w9729.

NBER working paper series no. w9729

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2003.

Summary:

Time is money, and distance matters. We model the interaction of these truisms, and show the implications for global specialization and trade: products where timely delivery is important will be produced near the source of final demand, where wages will be higher as a result. In the model, timely delivery is important because it allows retailers to respond to fluctuating final demand without holding costly inventories, and timely delivery is only possible from nearby locations. Using a unique dataset that allows us to measure the retail demand for timely delivery, we show that the sources of US apparel imports have shifted in the way predicted by the model, with products where timeliness matters increasingly imported from nearby countries.

Notes:

Print version record

May 2003.