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How Wide Is the Firm Border?

Author

Listed:
  • Enghin Atalay
  • Ali Hortacsu
  • Mary Jialin Li
  • Chad Syverson

Abstract

We examine the within- and across-firm shipment decisions of tens of thousands of goods-producing and goods-distributing establishments. This allows us to quantify the normally unobservable forces that determine firm boundaries; that is, which transactions are mediated by ownership control, as opposed to contracts or markets. We find firm boundaries to be an economically significant barrier to trade: Having an additional vertically integrated establishment in a given destination ZIP code has the same effect on shipment volumes as a 40 percent reduction in distance. These effects are larger for high value-to-weight products, for faraway destinations, for differentiated products, and for IT-intensive industries.

Suggested Citation

  • Enghin Atalay & Ali Hortacsu & Mary Jialin Li & Chad Syverson, 2019. "How Wide Is the Firm Border?," Working Papers 19-37, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedpwp:19-37
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.21799/frbp.wp.2019.37
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    Cited by:

    1. Michele Fioretti & Junnan He & Jorge Tamayo, 2024. "Prices and Concentration: A U-Shape? Theory and Evidence from Renewables," Working Papers hal-04631762, HAL.
    2. Johannes Boehm & Jan Sonntag, 2023. "Vertical Integration and Foreclosure: Evidence from Production Network Data," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(1), pages 141-161, January.
    3. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/1uut5itepl9q5osfl3tj7qatje is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Bartelme, Dominick & Ziv, Oren, 2024. "The internal geography of firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    5. Jean Imbs & Laurent L. Pauwels, 2020. "High Order Openness," Working Papers 20200047, New York University Abu Dhabi, Department of Social Science, revised Jun 2020.
    6. Gil, Ricard & Kim, Myongjin, 2021. "Does competition increase quality? Evidence from the US airline industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    7. Adelaide Baronchelli & Raul Caruso, 2023. "Italian small arms exports: between incentives and international sanctions," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(3), pages 1075-1106, October.
    8. Johannes Boehm, 2014. "The Impact of Contract Enforcement Costs on Outsourcing and Aggregate Productivity," 2014 Meeting Papers 340, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    9. Philippe Choné & Laurent Linnemer & Thibaud Vergé, 2021. "Double Marginalization and Vertical Integration," CESifo Working Paper Series 8971, CESifo.
    10. Youngho Kang & Jeongmeen Suh, 2022. "Information technology and the spatial reorganization of firms," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 674-692, August.
    11. McCully, Brett A., 2024. "Immigrants, legal status, and illegal trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    12. Basker, Emek & Kamal, Fariha, 2021. "Recall and response: Relationship adjustments to adverse information shocks," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    13. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1uut5itepl9q5osfl3tj7qatje is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Imbs, Jean & Pauwels, Laurent, 2025. "Measuring foreign exposure," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    15. Davide Del Prete & Armando Rungi, 2020. "Backward and Forward Integration Along Global Value Chains," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 57(2), pages 263-283, September.
    16. Cheng CHEN & Chang SUN & Hongyong ZHANG & Jiaxu ZHANG, 2023. "Production and Ownership Networks," Discussion papers 23039, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    17. Adelaide Baronchelli & Raul Caruso & Roberto Ricciuti, 2022. "Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons: Are embargoes effective?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(5), pages 1336-1361, May.
    18. Garg, Shresth & Ghosh, Pulak & Tan, Brandon Joel, 2023. "Within firm supply chains: Evidence from India," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    19. John (Jianqiu) Bai, 2021. "Organizational Form and Trade Liberalization: Plant-Level Evidence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(12), pages 7755-7784, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior

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