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Misallocation Under Trade Liberalization

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  • Jin, Keyu

Abstract

This paper incorporates firm-level distortions into a Melitz model and characterizes welfare under misallocation. We derive an analogue to the well-known ACR result in an economy with distortions. We highlight a channel through which trade can reduce welfare by exacerbating misallocation. A key statistic to infer welfare is the gap between input and output shares. Using Chinese manufacturing data for quantitative analysis, we show that trade integration can lead to a 18% welfare loss coming from a reduction in allocative efficiency. The overall gains to trade is substantially smaller than implied by standard calculations.

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  • Jin, Keyu, 2019. "Misallocation Under Trade Liberalization," CEPR Discussion Papers 13976, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13976
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    2. Manova, Kalina & Berthou, Antoine & Sandoz, Charlotte & Chung, John Jong-Hyun, 2019. "Trade, Productivity and (Mis)allocation," CEPR Discussion Papers 14203, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Richard Hornbeck & Martin Rotemberg, 2019. "Railroads, Reallocation, and the Rise of American Manufacturing," NBER Working Papers 26594, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Tetenyi, Laszlo, 2019. "Trade, misallocation, and capital market integration," IWH-CompNet Discussion Papers 8/2019, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    5. Anderson, Ronald W., 2020. "Who bears risk in China's non-financial enterprise debt?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118879, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Mark Bils, 2017. "Misallocation or Mismeasurement?," 2017 Meeting Papers 715, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Li, Xiaolu & Ma, Lin & Tang, Yang, 2024. "Migration and resource misallocation in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    8. Farrokhi, Farid & Lashkaripour, Ahmad & Pellegrina, Heitor S., 2024. "Trade and technology adoption in distorted economies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    9. Nam, Hyun-Jung & Ryu, Doojin, 2025. "Does international trade moderate economic development’s impact on income inequality in the EU?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    10. Bils, Mark & Klenow, Peter J. & Ruane, Cian, 2021. "Misallocation or Mismeasurement?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(S), pages 39-56.
    11. Li, Haoyang & Wu, Nan & Zhao, Jinhua, 2025. "Markup dispersion, industry coverage and the cost of environmental regulation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    12. Anderson, Ronald, 2020. "Who Bears Risk in China's Non-financial Enterprise Debt?," CEPR Discussion Papers 15135, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. David Kohn & Fernando Leibovici & Michal Szkup, 2021. "Financial Frictions and International Trade," Documentos de Trabajo 563, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    14. Siying Ding & Ahmad Lashkaripour & Volodymyr Lugovskyy, 2024. "A Global Perspective on the Incidence of Monopoly Distortions," CESifo Working Paper Series 11211, CESifo.
    15. Shaojian Chen & Dingyun Duan & Hua Wang, 2025. "Industrial Robots, Factor Market Distortion, and Productivity," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(2), pages 1093-1107, March.
    16. Maria D. Tito & Ruoying Wang, 2021. "Misallocation in Open Economy," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-007, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    17. Laszlo Tetenyi, 2021. "Trade, Misallocation, and Capital Market Integration," Working Papers w202119, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    18. Kaoru Hosono & Miho Takizawa, 2022. "Japan's productivity stagnation: Using dynamic Hsieh–Klenow decomposition," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(1), pages 218-232, January.
    19. Huang, Yi & Sheng, Liugang & Wang, Gewei, 2021. "How did rising labor costs erode China’s global advantage?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 632-653.
    20. Feng, Xiao & Wang, Yongjin & Zhao, Laixun, 2022. "Export capacity constraints and distortions," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    21. John Chung, 2025. "Firm Heterogeneity, Misallocation, and Trade," Working Papers 25-33, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    22. Xie, Enze & Xu, Mingzhi & Yu, Miaojie, 2024. "Trade liberalization, labor market power, and misallocation across firms: Evidence from China's WTO accession," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F63 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Economic Development
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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