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Does the Home Bias Explain Missing Trade in Factors?

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  • Robert Stehrer

    (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw)

Abstract

It is now widely accepted that when controlling for international differences in production techniques, the predictions from the Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek (HOV) theorem are largely satisfied. However, a large amount of ‘missing trade’ remains. This paper makes two main contributions Firstly, the HOV is tested for various production factors including labour by educational attainment levels (high, medium, low) and capital. Secondly, the paper allows for a more general structure of final consumption in the HOV framework with technology differences, which reduces the amount of missing trade. We test for the effects of non-homothetic preferences, home bias of consumption and the role of distance at the country and industry level. We discuss how this can be tackled in the analytical framework both for a country’s total exports but also in a bilateral way. Results are shown both for total trade and bilateral trade. Empirically we draw on the recently released World Input-Output Database (WIOD) and show the extent of reductions in ‘missing trade’ caused by the various assumptions and restrictions on demand structures.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Stehrer, 2014. "Does the Home Bias Explain Missing Trade in Factors?," wiiw Working Papers 110, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    • Handle: RePEc:wii:wpaper:110
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alan V. Deardorff, 2011. "The General Validity of the Heckscher-Ohlin Theorem," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Robert M Stern (ed.), Comparative Advantage, Growth, And The Gains From Trade And Globalization A Festschrift in Honor of Alan V Deardorff, chapter 11, pages 91-103, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. James R. Markusen, 2021. "Explaining the Volume of Trade: An Eclectic Approach," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 9, pages 177-186, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Robert W. Staiger & Alan V. Deardorff & Robert M. Stern, 1987. "An Evaluation of Factor Endowments and Protection as Determinants of Japanese and American Foreign Trade," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 20(3), pages 449-463, August.
    4. Reimer, Jeffrey J., 2006. "Global production sharing and trade in the services of factors," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 384-408, March.
    5. Trefler, Daniel & Zhu, Susan Chun, 2010. "The structure of factor content predictions," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 195-207, November.
    6. Staiger, Robert W., 1986. "Measurement of the factor content of foreign trade with traded intermediate goods," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3-4), pages 361-368, November.
    7. James Cassing & Shuichiro Nishioka, 2015. "Per Capita Income and the Mystery of Missing Trade," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 606-619, August.
    8. Keith E. Maskus & Shuichiro Nishioka, 2009. "Development‐related biases in factor productivities and the HOV model of trade," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(2), pages 519-553, May.
    9. Trefler, Daniel, 1993. "International Factor Price Differences: Leontief Was Right!," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(6), pages 961-987, December.
    10. Trefler, Daniel, 1995. "The Case of the Missing Trade and Other Mysteries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1029-1046, December.
    11. Hakura, Dalia S., 2001. "Why does HOV fail?: The role of technological differences within the EC," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 361-382, August.
    12. Maskus, Keith E., 1985. "A test of the Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek theorem: The Leontief commonplace," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3-4), pages 201-212, November.
    13. Nishioka, Shuichiro, 2012. "International differences in production techniques: Implications for the factor content of trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 98-104.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Dario Guarascio & Philipp Heimberger & Ambre Maucorps & Bernhard Moshammer & Roman Stöllinger, 2022. "Monthly Report No. 06/2022," wiiw Monthly Reports 2022-06, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    factor content of trade; Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek; home bias; non-homothetic tastes; technology;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • F19 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Other

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