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Products and Productivity

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Author Info
Bernard, Andrew
Redding, Stephen J
Schott, Peter

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Abstract

Firms’ decisions about which goods to produce are often made at a more disaggregate level than the data observed by empirical researchers. When products differ according to production technique or the way in which they enter demand, this data aggregation problem introduces a bias into standard measures of firm productivity. We develop a theoretical model of heterogeneous firms endogenously self-selecting into heterogeneous products. We characterize the bias introduced by unobserved variation in product mix across firms, and the implications of this bias for identifying firm and industry responses to exogenous policy shocks such as deregulation. More generally, we demonstrate that product switching gives rise to a richer set of industry-level dynamics than models where firm product mix remains fixed.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 5126.

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Date of creation: Jul 2005
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5126

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Related research
Keywords: deregulation; industry evolution; product choice; productivity;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior
L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General

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References listed on IDEAS
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    Other versions:
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Full references

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. Andrew B. Bernard & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2006. "Multi-Product Firms and Product Switching," NBER Working Papers 12293, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Florence Kondylis, 2005. "Agricultural Returns and Conflict: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a Policy Intervention Programme in Rwanda," CEP Discussion Papers dp0709, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  3. Facundo Albornoz & Marco Ercolani, 2007. "Learning by Exporting: Do Firm Characteristics Matter? Evidence from Argentinian Panel Data," Discussion Papers 07-17, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham. [Downloadable!]
  4. Gabriel J. Felbermayr & Benjamin Jung, . "Sorting It Out: Technical Barriers to Trade and Industry Productivity," FIW Working Paper series 014, FIW. [Downloadable!]
  5. Lucas Navarro & Raimundo Soto, 2006. "Procyclical Productivity in Manufacturing," Cuadernos de Economía (Latin American Journal of Economics), Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 43(127), pages 193-220. [Downloadable!]
  6. Fernandes, Ana M. & Paunov, Caroline, 2009. "Does tougher import competition foster product quality upgrading ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4894, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  7. Kalina Manova & Zhiwei Zhang, 2008. "China's exporters and importers: firms, products, and trade partners," Working Paper Series 2008-28, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. [Downloadable!]
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