This book was published in 2014 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council for Asia and the Pacific:
Trade Performance and Competitiveness
I co-authored the chapter: Logistics performance and trade: An analysis of India’s trade in intermediates with Bangladesh and Thailand
In this study, we investigated the link between logistics performance and trade in parts and components in the manufacturing industries. This is central to the growth of international production linkages and networks associated with the phenomenon of international production fragmentation. The focus was specifically on trade in two commodities – India’s export of yarn to Bangladesh and India’s import of air-conditioning equipment from Thailand.
We develop a logistics services index for 20 Asia-Pacific countries based on data on a wide range of such services to quantify the link between logistic services and trade. The evidence suggests there is a two-way relationship between trade and logistics services such that improved logistics facilitate trade but increased trade, in turn, tends to enhance the quality of logistics. It is likely that expanded trade in turn can induce market and government policy responses. The wide differences observed in the quality of logistics service among the countries studied indicate that there is a large potential for improvement in logistics.