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The impact of technological change on new trade: Evidence from the container revolution
Author(s) -
Bernhofen Daniel M.,
ElSahli Zouheir,
Kneller Richard
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
canadian journal of economics/revue canadienne d'économique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.773
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1540-5982
pISSN - 0008-4085
DOI - 10.1111/caje.12517
Subject(s) - containerization , container (type theory) , benchmark (surveying) , economics , product (mathematics) , technological change , international trade , identification (biology) , engineering , macroeconomics , geography , mechanical engineering , botany , geometry , mathematics , geodesy , biology
We estimate the impact of the container revolution on new trade in temperature‐sensitive products. Our identification strategy is justified by a historical narrative suggesting that the containerization of bilateral trading routes was exogenous to the occurrence of new trade in temperature‐sensitive products because their small trade volumes made them inconsequential for the adoption of the container technology. Employing product‐level data on containerizability, our benchmark estimates imply that containerization caused an increase in the likelihood of new trade in temperature‐sensitive products in the orders of 2.4% between 1964 and 1973 and 7.5% between 1964 and 1983.