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Manufacturers and Retailers in the Global Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Horst Raff
  • Nicolas Schmitt

Abstract

We develop a general-equilibrium model to capture key features of the retailing and of the manufacturing industry in order to understand how these two industries interact and how labor is allocated between them. We show that the observed shift in employment from manufacturing to retailing, the rise in retailer product assortment and the emergence of slotting allowances in many retail markets are consistent with the global integration of product markets, while higher retail market concentration is best explained by technological change in retailing. We also identify a novel benefit from market integration consisting of efficiency gains in the vertical distribution chain.

Suggested Citation

  • Horst Raff & Nicolas Schmitt, 2011. "Manufacturers and Retailers in the Global Economy," CESifo Working Paper Series 3508, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_3508
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raff, Horst & Schmitt, Nicolas, 2009. "Buyer power in international markets," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 222-229, November.
    2. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2010. "Wholesalers and Retailers in US Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 408-413, May.
    3. Horst Raff & Nicolas Schmitt, 2012. "Imports and the structure of retail markets," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 45(4), pages 1431-1455, November.
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    7. Emek Basker & Pham Hoang Van, 2007. "Wal-Mart as Catalyst to U.S.-China Trade," Working Papers 0710, Department of Economics, University of Missouri.
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    21. Emek Basker, 2012. "Raising the Barcode Scanner: Technology and Productivity in the Retail Sector," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 1-27, July.
    22. Emek Basker, 2007. "The Causes and Consequences of Wal-Mart's Growth," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 177-198, Summer.
    23. Bernardo S. Blum & Sebastian Claro & Ignatius Horstmann, 2010. "Facts and Figures on Intermediated Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 419-423, May.
    24. Greg Shaffer, 1991. "Slotting Allowances and Resale Price Maintenance: A Comparison of Facilitating Practices," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 22(1), pages 120-135, Spring.
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    26. Sullivan, Mary W, 1997. "Slotting Allowances and the Market for New Products," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(2), pages 461-493, October.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Meinen, Philipp & Raff, Horst, 2018. "International trade and retail market performance and structure: Theory and empirical evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 99-114.
    2. Andre Jungmittag, 2018. "The Direct and Indirect Effects of Product Market Regulations in the Retail Trade Sector," JRC Research Reports JRC112222, Joint Research Centre.
    3. Youngmin BAEK & Kazunobu HAYAKAWA & Kenmei TSUBOTA & Shujiro URATA & Kenta YAMANOUCHI, 2019. "Tariff Pass-through in Wholesaling: Evidence from Firm-level Data in Japan," Discussion papers 19064, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    4. Raff, Horst & Schmitt, Nicolas, 2015. "Retailing and international trade: A survey of the literature," Economics Working Papers 2015-02, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Economics.
    5. Emek Basker & Timothy Simcoe, 2021. "Upstream, Downstream: Diffusion and Impacts of the Universal Product Code," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(4), pages 1252-1286.
    6. Angela Cheptea & Charlotte Emlinger & Karine Latouche, 2012. "Multinational Retailers and Home Country Exports," Post-Print hal-01208840, HAL.
    7. Baek, Youngmin & Hayakawa, Kazunobu & Tsubota, Kenmei & Urata, Shujiro & Yamanouchi, Kenta, 2021. "Tariff Pass-through in Wholesaling: Evidence from Firm-level Data in Japan✰," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    8. Horst Raff & Nicolas Schmitt, 2012. "Imports and the structure of retail markets," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(4), pages 1431-1455, November.
    9. Angela Cheptea, 2025. "Multinational Retailers and Host Countries' Export Competitiveness," Post-Print hal-05043642, HAL.
    10. Angela Cheptea, 2014. "Do multinational retailers affect the export competitiveness of host countries?," Post-Print hal-01209065, HAL.
    11. Cheptea, Angela, 2016. "Multinational retailers and host countries’ export competitiveness," 149th Seminar, October 27-28, 2016, Rennes, France 244952, European Association of Agricultural Economists.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

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