This paper tests empirically the validity of the Alchian and Allen effect stipulating that per-unit trade costs increase the relative demand for higher-quality goods. We use an original dataset of French Cognac exports by quality designations and estimate the impact of trade costs on the share of high quality Cognac. The definition of quality, based on the minimum time in oak of the youngest eau-de-vie (wine brandy) used in creating the blend, is objective and time-invariant, which makes the case of Cognac particularly relevant to analyze the impact of different trade costs on its quality mix. We investigate both the impact of distance and customs duties on Cognac’s quality mix, from 1996 to 2013, and the impact of a variation in trade costs, brought by the containerization of shipping, between 1969 and 2013. Our results confirm the presence of the Alchian and Allen effect.

中文翻译：

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国际贸易，质量分类和贸易成本：科涅克白兰地

本文通过经验检验了Alchian和Allen效应的有效性，该效应规定每单位贸易成本会增加对优质商品的相对需求。我们使用按质量名称划分的法国干邑白兰地出口的原始数据集，并估算贸易成本对优质白兰地白兰地份额的影响。质量的定义，基于最年轻的淡香水中橡木的最短时间用于创建混合物的（葡萄酒白兰地）是客观且随时间变化的，这使得科涅克白兰地的案例特别适合分析不同贸易成本对其质量组合的影响。我们调查了从1996年到2013年的距离和关税对科涅克白兰地质量的影响，以及1969年至2013年之间由集装箱运输带来的贸易成本变化的影响。我们的结果证实了阿尔奇安的存在和艾伦效应。