TY  - JOUR
AU  - Glaeser,Edward L.
AU  - Kohlhase,Janet E.
TI  - Cities, Regions and the Decline of Transport Costs
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9886
PY  - 2003
Y2  - August 2003
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9886
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9886.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Edward L. Glaeser
Department of Economics
315A Littauer Center
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/495-0575
Fax: 617/495-7730
E-Mail: eglaeser@harvard.edu
AB  - The theoretical framework of urban and regional economics is built on transportation costs for manufactured goods. But over the twentieth century, the costs of moving these goods have declined by over 90% in real terms, and there is little reason to doubt that this decline will continue. Moreover, technological change has eliminated the importance of fixed infrastructure transport (rail and water) that played a critical role in creating natural urban centres. In this article, we document this decline and explore several simple implications of a world where it is essentially free to move goods, but expensive to move people. We find empirical support for these implications.
ER  -