Infrastructure, CompetitionRegimes, and Air Transport Costs: Cross-Country Evidence

Micco, Alejandro ; Serebrisky, Tomá ; s

World Bank, Washington, D.C.

关键词: INFRASTRUCTURE;    AIR TRANSPORT;    TRANSPORT COSTS;    LIBERALIZATION;    REGULATORY FRAMEWORK;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-3355
RP-ID  :  WPS3355

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The relevance of transport costs hasincreased as liberalization continues to reduce artificialbarriers to trade. Countries need to adopt policies to getcloser to global markets. Can improvements in infrastructureand regulation reduce transport costs? Is it worthwhile toimplement policies designed to increase competition intransport markets? Focusing on air transport, which hasincreased its share in US imports from 24 percent in 1990 to35 percent in 2000, this paper quantifies the effects ofinfrastructure, regulatory quality and liberalization of aircargo markets on transport costs. During the 1990s, theUnited States implemented a series of Open Skies Agreements,providing a unique opportunity to assess the effect that achange in the competition regime has on prices. We find thatinfrastructure, quality of regulation and competitionmatter. In our sample, an improvement in airportinfrastructure from the 25th to 75th percentiles reduces airtransport costs by 15 percent. A similar improvement in thequality of regulation reduces air transport costs by 14percent. Open Skies Agreements further reduce air transportcosts by 8 percent.