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Trade Liberalization with Heterogenous Firms

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Author Info
Baldwin, Richard
Forslid, Rikard

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Abstract

This Paper details the positive and normative effects of reciprocal trade liberalization when firms have endogenously determined, heterogeneous productivity levels. We show that trade liberalization leads to: (i) an anti-variety effect (the number of varieties consumed drops) in contrast to the well-known Krugman variety effect; and (ii) a Stolper-Samuelson like result on factor rewards. We decompose the welfare impact into four partial effects. Three of these are unique to the model, namely, the Melitz anti-variety effect, the Melitz productivity effect, and the MacDonalisation effect. We show that the first effect tends to lower welfare while the other two tend to raise it. Overall, the four effects imply that the representative gains from trade liberalization. If we identify factor ownership with particular classes of consumers, we can say that freer trade implies unambiguous welfare gains for labourers and export-firm owners. Other firm owners gain if and only if spending on manufactured varieties is sufficiently high.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 4635.

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Date of creation: Sep 2004
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4635

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Related research
Keywords: anti-variety effect heterogeneous firms Krugman variety effect trade liberalization

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm
P16 - Economic Systems - - Capitalist Systems - - - Political Economy of Capitalism

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Peter K. Schott, 2003. "Falling Trade Costs, Heterogeneous Firms and Industry Dynamics," CEP Discussion Papers dp0585, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Jonathan Eaton & Samuel Kortum & Francis Kramarz, 2004. "Dissecting trade: firms, industries, and export destinations," Staff Report 332, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Schmitt, Nicolas & Yu, Zhihao, 2001. "Economies of scale and the volume of intra-industry trade," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 127-132, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Andrew B. Bernard & Jonathan Eaton & J. Bradford Jensen & Samuel Kortum, 2003. "Plants and Productivity in International Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1268-1290, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Elhanan Helpman & Marc J. Melitz & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2003. "Export versus FDI," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1998, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Richard E. Baldwin & Frédéric Robert-Nicoud, 2006. "Trade and Growth with Heterogenous Firms," NBER Working Papers 12326, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Baldwin, Richard & Forslid, Rikard, 2004. "Trade Liberalization with Heterogenous Firms," CEPR Discussion Papers 4635, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Richard Baldwin & Toshihiro Okubo, 2005. "Heterogeneous Firms, Agglomeration and Economic Geography: Spatial Selection and Sorting," NBER Working Papers 11650, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Gianmarco Ottaviano & Takatoshi Tabuchi & Jacques-FranÁois Thisse, 2002. "Agglomeration and Trade Revisited," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 43(2), pages 409-436, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Elhanan Helpman & Marc Melitz & Yona Rubinstein, 2006. "Trading Partners and Trading Volumes," DEGIT Conference Papers c011_022, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade. [Downloadable!]
  11. Montagna, Catia, 2001. "Efficiency Gaps, Love of Variety and International Trade," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 68(269), pages 27-44, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Bee Yan Aw & Sukkyun Chung & Mark J. Roberts, 1998. "Productivity and the Decision to Export: Micro Evidence from Taiwan and South Korea," NBER Working Papers 6558, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Marc J. Melitz & Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano, 2005. "Market Size, Trade, and Productivity," NBER Working Papers 11393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Richard Baldwin, 2005. "Heterogeneous Firms and Trade: Testable and Untestable Properties of the Melitz Model," NBER Working Papers 11471, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Elhanan Helpman & Marc J. Melitz & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2004. "Export versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 300-316, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Cabral, Luís M B & Mata, José, 2001. "On the Evolution of the Firm Size Distribution: Facts and Theory," CEPR Discussion Papers 3045, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Feenstra, Robert & Rose, Andrew K, 1997. "Putting Things in Order: Patterns of Trade Dynamics and Macroeconomics," CEPR Discussion Papers 1629, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Wang, Z.K. & Winters, L.A., 1992. "The Trading Potential of Eastern Europe," Discussion Papers 92-21, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Richard E. Baldwin & Rikard Forslid, 2006. "Trade Liberalization with Heterogenous Firms," NBER Working Papers 12192, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Jan G. Jorgensen & Philipp J. H. Schröder, 2005. "Tariffs and Firm-Level Heterogeneous Fixed Export Costs," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 496, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Richard E. Baldwin & Frédéric Robert-Nicoud, 2006. "Trade and Growth with Heterogenous Firms," NBER Working Papers 12326, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Svetlana Demidova & Andrés Rodríguez-Clare, 2007. "Trade Policy under Firm-Level Heterogeneity in a Small Economy," NBER Working Papers 13688, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Herbert Brücker & Philipp J. H. Schröder, 2006. "International Migration with Heterogeneous Agents: Theory and Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 2049, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Giancarlo Corsetti & Philippe Martin & Paolo Pesenti, 2005. "Productivity spillovers, terms of trade, and the "home market effect"," Staff Reports 201, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Maria Bas & Ivan Ledezma, 2006. "The impact of trade reforms on the extensive margin of trade," PSE Working Papers 2006-36, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
  8. Felbermayr, Gabriel & Prat, Julien & Schmerer, Hans-Jörg, 2008. "Globalization and Labor Market Outcomes: Wage Bargaining, Search Frictions, and Firm Heterogeneity," IZA Discussion Papers 3363, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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