Working Paper

Has the border narrowed?


Abstract: In the late 1980s, Canada's provinces traded 20 times more with one another than with U.S. states of comparable size and distance. In other words, the Canada-U.S. border exerted a strong effect on the pattern of Canada's continental trade patterns. Since then, globalization and the formation of the Canada-U.S. and North American free trade areas could have reduced the impact of the border on continental trade patterns. However, estimates from a gravity model of aggregate Canadian trade reveal no evidence of a narrowing border, at least through 1996. The border effect appears remarkably stable both over time and across equation specifications.

Keywords: Canada; North American Free Trade Agreement;

Authors

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Part of Series: Working Papers

Publication Date: 1998

Number: 98-15