Merchant networks in big cities

In the 18th century, every second merchant ship sailing from Britain to Baltic did not carry any exports. This was caused by trade imbalances that were driven high demand for grains and other raw materials in Britain. Trip level data show ships based larger British cities more likely make non-empty trips carried varieties. paper argues wider denser networks of merchants large cities, which facilitated information flows improved efficiency matching, allowed them outperform smaller ports. Furthermore, ports improve their performance when they departed cities. finding additional tests provide evidence against competing explanations.