Analyses of Trade Costs

Trade liberalization is essentially reducing "trade costs." However, trade costs include various costs such as transport costs, tariffs, and non-tariff barriers to trade (NTBs). Trade costs are also closely related to the distribution system. Facing global development of value and supply chains, servicification, and technological innovation in transportation and telecommunications, we can regard distribution as something that creates new values. Therefore, the analyses of trade costs are fairly diversified.

Trade costs are related to industrial and competition policies, environmental policies, and growth policies as well as trade policies, as they are affected by decreases in trade costs. Domestic policies can be regarded as merely local polices if trade costs are high but as global policies if trade costs are low. Therefore, we need to take trade costs into account when investigating various economic policies.

In this research project, exploring trade costs from various viewpoints, we deepen the analysis of trade liberalization and study the effects of trade costs on economic policies. Through the investigation, we obtain useful implications for policy making.

July 27, 2015 - March 31, 2017