TRANSPORTATION COSTS, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY, AND CROSS‐COUNTRY INCOME DIFFERENCES*
通过将区域贸易和运输部门引入标准的两部门模型，研究运输生产率如何影响农业与非农业间的资源配置，并量化运输生产率差异对跨国收入差距的贡献。
I study the role of transportation for development by introducing regional trade and a transportation sector into the standard two‐sector model of agriculture–nonagriculture. Low transport productivity can distort the allocation of resources across geographically dispersed production units within sectors and between agriculture and nonagriculture. I infer cross‐country transport productivity disparities from observed domestic transport costs and transport infrastructure stocks. “Endowing” rich countries with the transport productivity of poor countries would reduce their income by 10%. Combining transport productivity disparities with disparities in nonagricultural productivity and arable land the model yields a 50% higher rich–poor income ratio than the two‐sector model.