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Powerless : gains from trade when firm productivity is not Pareto distributed

Author

Listed:
  • Stefano Schiavo

    (OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po)

  • Marco Bee

Abstract

Most trade models featuring heterogeneous firms assume a Pareto productivity distribution, on the basis that it provides a reasonable representation of the data and because of its analytical tractability. However, recent work shows that the characteristics of the productivity distribution crucially affect the estimated gains from trade. This paper thoroughly compares the gains from trade obtained under different productivity distributions: we find that both the magnitude of the welfare gains and the relative importance of the fixed versus variable trade costs change significantly. Relying blindly on a single distribution is therefore dangerous when performing welfare analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefano Schiavo & Marco Bee, 2015. "Powerless : gains from trade when firm productivity is not Pareto distributed," Sciences Po Economics Publications (main) hal-03459690, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:spmain:hal-03459690
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal-sciencespo.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03459690
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    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Ruben Dewitte & Michel Dumont & Glenn Rayp & Peter Willemé, 2022. "Unobserved heterogeneity in the productivity distribution and gains from trade," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(3), pages 1566-1597, August.
    3. Mrázová, Monika & Neary, J. Peter, 2020. "IO for exports(s)," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    4. Ruben Dewitte & Bruno Merlevede & Glenn Rayp, 2024. "Gains from trade: Demand, supply, and idiosyncratic shocks," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(5), pages 870-886, August.
    5. Bawa, Siraj, 2017. "Corporate Taxation in the Open Economy without Pareto," MPRA Paper 80857, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Aug 2017.
    6. Letizia Montinari & Massimo Riccaboni & Stefano Schiavo, 2021. "Innovation, trade and multi‐product firms," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(1), pages 311-337, February.
    7. Anders Rosenstand Laugesen, 2015. "Asymmetric Monotone Comparative Statics for the Industry Compositions," Economics Working Papers 2015-22, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    8. Monika Mrázová & J. Peter Neary & Mathieu Parenti, 2021. "Sales and Markup Dispersion: Theory and Empirics," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(4), pages 1753-1788, July.
    9. Peter Neary & Monika MrázováMathieu Parenti, 2015. "Technology, Demand, And The Size Distribution Of Firms," Economics Series Working Papers 774, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    10. Demian, Calin-Vlad & di Mauro, Filippo, 2018. "The exchange rate, asymmetric shocks and asymmetric distributions," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 68-85.
    11. Polanec Sašo & Smith Paul A. & Bavdaž Mojca, 2022. "Determination of the Threshold in Cutoff Sampling Using Response Burden with an Application to Intrastat," Journal of Official Statistics, Sciendo, vol. 38(4), pages 1205-1234, December.
    12. Dewitte, Ruben, 2020. "From Heavy-Tailed Micro to Macro: on the characterization of firm-level heterogeneity and its aggregation properties," MPRA Paper 103170, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation

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