International Trade with Increasing Returns in the Transportation Sector

Zhou, Haiwen (2017): International Trade with Increasing Returns in the Transportation Sector. Published in: Frontiers of Economics in China , Vol. 9, No. 4 (2014): pp. 606-633.

Abstract

In this general equilibrium framework, the transportation sector is modeled as a distinct sector with increasing returns. A more advanced technology has a higher fixed cost but a lower marginal cost of production. Even with both manufacturing firms and transportation firms engage in oligopolistic competition and choose technologies optimally, the model is tractable and results are derived analytically. Technology adoptions in the manufacturing sector and in the transportation sector are reinforcing and multiple equilibria may exist. Firms choose more advanced technologies and the prices decrease when the size of the population is larger.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Transportation costs, international trade, the choice of technology, increasing returns, strategic complementarity
• Subjects: F - International Economics > F1 - Trade > F10 - General; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O14 - Industrialization ; Manufacturing and Service Industries ; Choice of Technology; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R4 - Transportation Economics > R40 - General

References

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