Per-Shipment Costs and the Lumpiness of International Trade

Cecília Hornok and Miklós Koren

January 2014

Abstract

Using detailed U.S. and Spanish export data, we document that trade costs of a per-shipment nature are associated with less frequent and larger shipments, i.e. more lumpiness, in international trade. This finding is pervasive across broad product categories, but most apparent for food products, industrial supplies and parts and accessories.

Please cite as

Hornok, Cecília, and Miklós Koren, 2015. “Per-Shipment Costs and the Lumpiness of International Trade.” Review of Economics and Statistics. 97(2), pp. 525-530. bib