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Functional Forms for Tractable Economic Models and the Cost Structure of International Trade

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  • Michal Fabinger
  • E. Glen Weyl

Abstract

We present functional forms allowing a broader range of analytic solutions to common economic equilibrium problems. These can increase the realism of pen-and-paper solutions or speed large-scale numerical solutions as computational subroutines. We use the latter approach to build a tractable heterogeneous firm model of international trade accommodating economies of scale in export and diseconomies of scale in production, providing a natural, unified solution to several puzzles concerning trade costs. We briefly highlight applications in a range of other fields. Our method of generating analytic solutions is a discrete approximation to a logarithmically modified Laplace transform of equilibrium conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Michal Fabinger & E. Glen Weyl, 2016. "Functional Forms for Tractable Economic Models and the Cost Structure of International Trade," Papers 1611.02270, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2018.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1611.02270
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    Cited by:

    1. Takanori Adachi & Muhammad Michal Fabinger, 2017. "Multi-Dimensional Pass-Through, Incidence, and the Welfare Burden of Taxation in Oligopoly," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1040, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    2. Takanori Adachi & Michal Fabinger, 2017. "Multi-Dimensional Pass-Through, Incidence, and the Welfare Burden of Taxation in Oligopoly," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1040, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    3. William Griffiths & Duangkamon Chotikapanich & Gholamreza Hajargasht, 2022. "A note on inequality measures for mixtures of double Pareto–lognormal distributions," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 280-290, June.
    4. Takanori Adachi & Michal Fabinger, 2019. "Output and Welfare Implications of Oligopolistic Third-Degree Price Discrimination," Working Papers e139, Tokyo Center for Economic Research.
    5. Takanori Adachi & Michal Fabinger, 2017. "Multi-Dimensional Pass-Through and Welfare Measures under Imperfect Competition," Papers 1702.04967, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2018.
    6. Simon Cowan, 2023. "Welfare-increasing monopolization," Economics Series Working Papers 1006, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    7. William Griffiths & Duangkamon Chotikapanich & Gholamreza Hajargasht, 2021. "A Note on Inequality Measures for Mixtures of Double Pareto-Lognormal Distributions," Monash Econometrics and Business Statistics Working Papers 14/21, Monash University, Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics.

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