Conferences at Department of Economics, University of Toronto, RCEF 2012: Cities, Open Economies, and Public Policy

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Roads and Trade: Evidence from the US

Gilles Duranton, Peter Morrow*, Matthew Turner

Last modified: 2012-06-27

Abstract


We estimate the effects of interstate highways on the level and composition of trade for us cities. Highways within cities have a
large effect on the weight of city exports with an elasticity of approximately 0.5. There is no discernible effect of highways on the total value of exports. Consistent with this, we find that cities with more highways specialize in sectors producing heavy goods.

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