IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jecrev/v65y2014i2p142-157.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Multi-Product Exporters and the Margins of Trade

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew B. Bernard
  • Ilke Van Beveren
  • Hylke Vandenbussche

Abstract

type="main"> The present paper examines multi-product exporters in Belgium, considering their importance and the relationship between the margins of trade and firm productivity. We use proxies for trade costs to quantify the extensive and intensive margin adjustments of trade. Relatively few exporting firms account for the majority of Belgian exports and these large firms have greater productivity and value-added, more employees and more exported products than smaller exporters. Across firms, productivity is positively associated with firm exports. More productive firms export more products to more countries and have higher average product-country export flows. The extensive and intensive margins are equally important in total firm exports.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew B. Bernard & Ilke Van Beveren & Hylke Vandenbussche, 2014. "Multi-Product Exporters and the Margins of Trade," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 65(2), pages 142-157, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jecrev:v:65:y:2014:i:2:p:142-157
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/jere.12030
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan De Loecker, 2011. "Product Differentiation, Multiproduct Firms, and Estimating the Impact of Trade Liberalization on Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(5), pages 1407-1451, September.
    2. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg & Michael M. Knetter, 1997. "Goods Prices and Exchange Rates: What Have We Learned?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 1243-1272, September.
    3. Thierry Mayer & Marc J. Melitz & Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, 2021. "Market Size, Competition, and the Product Mix of Exporters," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Firms and Workers in a Globalized World Larger Markets, Tougher Competition, chapter 5, pages 109-150, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Andrew B. Bernard & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2009. "Products and Productivity," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 111(4), pages 681-709, December.
    5. Mayer, Thierry & Zignago, Soledad, 2006. "Notes on CEPII’s distances measures," MPRA Paper 26469, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Thierry Mayer & Gianmarco Ottaviano, 2008. "The Happy Few: The Internationalisation of European Firms," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 43(3), pages 135-148, May.
    7. Costas Arkolakis & Sharat Ganapati & Marc-Andreas Muendler, 2021. "The Extensive Margin of Exporting Products: A Firm-Level Analysis," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 182-245, October.
    8. Caves, Douglas W & Christensen, Laurits R & Diewert, W Erwin, 1982. "The Economic Theory of Index Numbers and the Measurement of Input, Output, and Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(6), pages 1393-1414, November.
    9. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2007. "Firms in International Trade," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 105-130, Summer.
    10. Andrew B. Bernard & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2010. "Multiple-Product Firms and Product Switching," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 70-97, March.
    11. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6g0gsihsjmn5snc9pb0jo6hhp is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Gita Gopinath & Oleg Itskhoki, 2010. "Frequency of Price Adjustment and Pass-Through," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(2), pages 675-727.
    13. Carsten Eckel & J. Peter Neary, 2010. "Multi-Product Firms and Flexible Manufacturing in the Global Economy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(1), pages 188-217.
    14. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6g0gsihsjmn5snc9pb0jo6hhp is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Leonardo Iacovone & BeataS. Javorcik, 2010. "Multi-Product Exporters: Product Churning, Uncertainty and Export Discoveries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(544), pages 481-499, May.
    16. Justin R. Pierce & Peter K. Schott, 2009. "A Concordance Between Ten-Digit U.S. Harmonized System Codes and SIC/NAICS Product Classes and Industries," NBER Working Papers 15548, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joachim Wagner, 2016. "A survey of empirical studies using transaction level data on exports and imports," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 152(1), pages 215-225, February.
    2. Gert Bijnens & Jozef Konings, 2020. "Declining business dynamism in Belgium," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 1201-1239, April.
    3. Lawless, Martina & Siedschlag, Iulia & Studnicka, Zuzanna, 2017. "Expanding and diversifying the manufactured exports of Irish-owned enterprises," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number BKMNEXT335.
    4. Vandenbussche, Hylke & Aw-Roberts, Bee Yan & Lee, Yi, 2018. "Decomposing Firm-Product Appeal: How important is Consumer Taste?," CEPR Discussion Papers 12707, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Philippe Aghion & Antonin Bergeaud & Matthieu Lequien & Marc J. Melitz & Thomas Zuber, 2024. "Opposing Firm-Level Responses to the China Shock: Output Competition versus Input Supply," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 249-269, May.
    6. Ming Xu & Tenglong Zhong & Qian Xie & Hongkui Liu, 2022. "Foreign Demand, Competition Strategy, and Export Markups: Evidence from Chinese Multi‐Product Exporters," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(3), pages 187-209, May.
    7. Konings, Jozef & Bijnens, Gert, 2018. "Declining Business Dynamism," CEPR Discussion Papers 12615, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Catherine Fuss & Angelos Theodorakopoulos, 2018. "Compositional Changes in Aggregate Productivity in an Era of Globalisation and Financial Crisis," Working Papers of VIVES - Research Centre for Regional Economics 627696, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), VIVES - Research Centre for Regional Economics.
    9. Wu, Hongmei & Wan, Lu & Tian, He & Chen, Zhifang & Zhang, Yian, 2021. "The ternary margins of China's forest products export and their determinants," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    10. Michael Irlacher, 2022. "Multi-product Firms in International Economics," Economics working papers 2022-01, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    11. Chiara Criscuolo & Jonathan Timmis, 2018. "The Changing Structure of Global Value Chains: Are Central Hubs Key for Productivity?," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 34, pages 64-80, Spring.
    12. Fang, Yuxia & Li, Yuhua, 2024. "How does internet finance affect firm exports? Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    13. Philippe Aghion & Antonin Bergeaud & Matthieu Lequien & Marc J. Melitz & Thomas Zuber, 2021. "Opposing firm-level responses to the China shock: horizontal competition versus vertical relationships," CEP Discussion Papers dp1787, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    14. Zhou, Tianhang & Li, Xue & Yan, Guo & Li, Jie, 2022. "How productivity and credit constraints affect exports differently? Firm-level evidence from China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 207-230.
    15. Aya Elewa, 2018. "Mixed Market Structure, Competition and Market Size: How Does Product Mix Respond?," Working Papers 1245, Economic Research Forum, revised 28 Oct 2018.
    16. Marianne Matthee & Thomas Farole & Tasha Naughtin & Neil Rankin, 2016. "South African Exporters and the Global Crisis: Intensive Margin Shock, Extensive Margin Hangover," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 84(2), pages 183-198, June.
    17. Bai, Xue & Hong, Shengjie & Wang, Yaqi, 2021. "Learning from processing trade: Firm evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 579-602.
    18. Kamal, Fariha & Sundaram, Asha, 2016. "Buyer–seller relationships in international trade: Do your neighbors matter?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 128-140.
    19. Brian Cevallos Fujiy & Gaurav Khanna & Hiroshi Toma, 2022. "Cultural Proximity and Production Networks," Working Papers 686, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrew B Bernard & Emily J Blanchard & Ilke Van Beveren & Hylke Vandenbussche, 2019. "Carry-Along Trade," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(2), pages 526-563.
    2. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2018. "Global Firms," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(2), pages 565-619, June.
    3. Arnarson, Björn Thor, 2020. "The superstar and the followers: Intra-firm product complementarity in international trade," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 277-304.
    4. Michael Irlacher, 2022. "Multi-product Firms in International Economics," Economics working papers 2022-01, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    5. Békés, Gábor & Muraközy, Balázs, 2012. "Temporary trade and heterogeneous firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 232-246.
    6. Andrew B. Bernard & Ilke Van Beveren & Hylke Vandenbussche, 2010. "Multi-product exporters, carry-along trade and the margins of trade," Working Paper Research 203, National Bank of Belgium.
    7. Daniel Baumgarten & Michael Irlacher & Karin Mayr‐Dorn, 2022. "Internationalization strategies of multi‐product firms: The role of technology," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(4), pages 1929-1965, November.
    8. Volker Nocke & Stephen Yeaple, 2014. "Globalization And Multiproduct Firms," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 55(4), pages 993-1018, November.
    9. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2012. "The Empirics of Firm Heterogeneity and International Trade," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 283-313, July.
    10. Macedoni, Luca, 2022. "Large multiproduct exporters across rich and poor countries: Theory and evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    11. Koen Breemersch, 2016. "Competition and product mix adjustment of multi-product exporters : Evidence from Belgium," Working Paper Research 298, National Bank of Belgium.
    12. Manova, Kalina & Yu, Zhihong, 2017. "Multi-product firms and product quality," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 116-137.
    13. Andrew B. Bernard & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2011. "Multiproduct Firms and Trade Liberalization," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(3), pages 1271-1318.
    14. Boehm, Johannes & Dhingra, Swati & Morrow, John, 2019. "The comparative advantage of firms," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102596, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Jan De Loecker & Pinelopi K. Goldberg & Amit K. Khandelwal & Nina Pavcnik, 2016. "Prices, Markups, and Trade Reform," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 445-510, March.
    16. Nakhoda, Aadil, 2012. "The effect of foreign competition on product switching activities: A firm level analysis," MPRA Paper 39167, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1dn2prktaq9p3949il1h9ds86b is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Lionel Fontagn'e & Francesca Micocci & Armando Rungi, 2024. "The heterogeneous impact of the EU-Canada agreement with causal machine learning," Papers 2407.07652, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2025.
    19. Chakraborty, Pavel & Henry, Michael, 2019. "Chinese competition and product variety of Indian firms," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 367-395.
    20. Eckel, Carsten & Iacovone, Leonardo & Javorcik, Beata & Neary, J. Peter, 2015. "Multi-product firms at home and away: Cost- versus quality-based competence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 216-232.
    21. Swati Dhingra, 2013. "Trading Away Wide Brands for Cheap Brands," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2554-2584, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jecrev:v:65:y:2014:i:2:p:142-157. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/jeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.