Trade Networks in Latin America: Spatial Inefficiencies and Optimal Expansions
使用空间一般均衡框架和新离散化方法，识别拉丁美洲最优的国内和跨国交通网络，发现多数国家在连接人口密集城市的内陆道路投资不足，阿根廷和巴西年均福利损失分别达消费的2.4%和2.1%。
Abstract Using a spatial general equilibrium framework and a new discretization procedure to address the large spatial scale of countries such as Brazil, this study identifies optimal domestic and transnational transport networks and expansions to existing ones in Latin America. Most countries have underinvested in domestic road networks connecting their more populous and productive urban areas. The average annual welfare losses due to such inefficiencies are largest in Argentina and Brazil, averaging respectively 2.4 percent and 2.1 percent of consumption. The estimated welfare losses due to spatial misallocation of transnational transport networks are 1.8 percent in MERCOSUR and 1.5 percent in the Andean Community, but the losses of landlocked members of the bloc are more than double these averages. Optimal expansions of existing networks can correct existing inefficiencies and reduce spatial inequality within and across countries. World Bank transportation infrastructure projects correlate relatively well with the optimal investments in most countries.