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International Trade with Indirect Additivity

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  • Paolo Bertoletti
  • Federico Etro
  • Ina Simonovska

Abstract

We develop a general equilibrium model of monopolistic competition and trade based on indirectly additive preferences and heterogenous firms. It generates markups independent from destination population but increasing in destination per capita income, as documented empirically. Trade liberalization delivers an increase in consumed variety and incomplete cost pass-through. This leads to welfare gains that can be much lower than those predicted by comparable models with different preferences. We introduce a tractable utility function that further predicts that small firms grow more during trade liberalization and pass through cost changes more than do large firms. Once we estimate the model to match moments from cross-firm and cross-country data we (i) find quantitatively large differences in the welfare gains from trade relative to models based on homothetic preferences, and (ii) evaluate the gains and losses from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo Bertoletti & Federico Etro & Ina Simonovska, 2016. "International Trade with Indirect Additivity," NBER Working Papers 21984, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21984
    Note: DEV EFG IFM IO ITI
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Etro Federico, 2010. "Endogenous Market Structures and International Trade," Working Papers 2010_26, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    2. Feenstra, Robert C., 2018. "Restoring the product variety and pro-competitive gains from trade with heterogeneous firms and bounded productivity," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 16-27.
    3. Pablo Fajgelbaum & Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 2011. "Income Distribution, Product Quality, and International Trade," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 119(4), pages 721-765.
    4. Feenstra, Robert C., 2003. "A homothetic utility function for monopolistic competition models, without constant price elasticity," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 79-86, January.
    5. Paolo Bertoletti & Federico Etro, 2018. "Monopolistic Competition with GAS Preferences," DEM Working Papers Series 165, University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Management.
    6. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June.
    7. Jonathan Eaton & Samuel Kortum & Francis Kramarz, 2011. "An Anatomy of International Trade: Evidence From French Firms," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(5), pages 1453-1498, September.
    8. George Alessandria & Joseph P. Kaboski, 2011. "Pricing-to-Market and the Failure of Absolute PPP," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 91-127, January.
    9. Federico Etro, 2015. "Endogenous Market Structures and International Trade: Theory and Evidence," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(3), pages 918-956, July.
    10. Pablo D. Fajgelbaum, 2011. "Income Distribution, Product Quality and International Trade," 2011 Meeting Papers 415, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Anderson, James E, 1979. "A Theoretical Foundation for the Gravity Equation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(1), pages 106-116, March.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms

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