Fiche du document
2 mai 2021
- 2105.00517
Mots-clés
Economics - General EconomicsSujets proches
Trade Commercial trade Foreign trade Trade TradeCiter ce document
Øystein Daljord et al., « The Black Market for Beijing License Plates », arXiv - économie
Partage / Export
Résumé
Black markets can reduce the effects of distortionary regulations by reallocating scarce resources toward consumers who value them most. The illegal nature of black markets, however, creates transaction costs that reduce the gains from trade. We take a partial identification approach to infer gains from trade and transaction costs in the black market for Beijing car license plates, which emerged following their recent rationing. We find that at least 11% of emitted license plates are illegally traded. The estimated transaction costs suggest severe market frictions: between 61% and 82% of the realized gains from trade are lost to transaction costs.
