IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hrv/faseco/30722111.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Quality and Trade

Author

Listed:
  • Murphy, Kevin M
  • Shleifer, Andrei

Abstract

We present a model of trade in which similar countries trade more with each other than very different countries. The reason is that high human capital countries have a comparative advantage at producing high quality goods, but are also rich enough to want to consume high quality. As a result, countries choose trading partners at a similar level of development, who produce similar quality products. The model helps account for the observed trade patterns, and sheds light on international income comparisons. It also helps explain recent concerns of Eastern European countries that they have "nothing to sell" to the West.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Murphy, Kevin M & Shleifer, Andrei, 1997. "Quality and Trade," Scholarly Articles 30722111, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hrv:faseco:30722111
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/30722111/66.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    • Murphy, Kevin M. & Shleifer, Andrei, 1991. "Quality and Trade," Working Papers 66, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    • Kevin M. Murphy & Andrei Shleifer, 1991. "Quality and Trade," NBER Working Papers 3622, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 1991. "Quality Ladders and Product Cycles," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 557-586.
    2. Alwyn Young, 1991. "Learning by Doing and the Dynamic Effects of International Trade," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 369-405.
    3. Raymond Vernon, 1970. "Introduction to "The Technology Factor in International Trade"," NBER Chapters, in: The Technology Factor in International Trade, pages 1-5, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. A. Daly & D.M.W.N. Hitchens & K. Wagner, 1985. "Productivity, Machinery and Skills in a Sample of British and German Manufacturing Plants," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 111(1), pages 48-61, February.
    5. repec:sae:niesru:v:111:y::i:1:p:48-61 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Raymond Vernon, 1966. "International Investment and International Trade in the Product Cycle," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 80(2), pages 190-207.
    7. Deardorff, Alan V., 1984. "Testing trade theories and predicting trade flows," Handbook of International Economics, in: R. W. Jones & P. B. Kenen (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 467-517, Elsevier.
    8. Raymond Vernon, 1970. "The Technology Factor in International Trade," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number vern70-1.
    9. Kelvin J. Lancaster, 1966. "A New Approach to Consumer Theory," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(2), pages 132-132.
    10. Jones, Ronald W. & Peter Neary, J., 1984. "The positive theory of international trade," Handbook of International Economics, in: R. W. Jones & P. B. Kenen (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 1-62, Elsevier.
    11. Nancy L. Stokey, 1991. "Human Capital, Product Quality, and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 587-616.
    12. Nancy L. Stokey, 1991. "The Volume and Composition of Trade Between Rich and Poor Countries," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(1), pages 63-80.
    13. James R. Markusen, 2021. "Explaining the Volume of Trade: An Eclectic Approach," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 9, pages 177-186, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. Flam, Harry & Helpman, Elhanan, 1987. "Vertical Product Differentiation and North-South Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 810-822, December.
    15. Alwyn Young, 1991. "Learning by Doing and the Dynamic Effects of International Trade," NBER Working Papers 3577, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Funk, Peter, 1998. "Satiation and underdevelopment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 319-341.
    2. Kim, Se-Jik & Kim, Yong Jin, 2000. "Growth gains from trade and education," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 519-545, April.
    3. Detragiache, Enrica, 1998. "Technology diffusion and international income convergence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 367-392, August.
    4. Arnaud Costinot & Jonathan Vogel & Su Wang, 2013. "An Elementary Theory of Global Supply Chains," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(1), pages 109-144.
    5. Long, N.V. & Wong, K.Y., 1996. "Endogenous Growth and International Trade: A Survey," Working Papers 96-07, University of Washington, Department of Economics.
    6. Juan Carlos Hallak, 2010. "A Product-Quality View of the Linder Hypothesis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(3), pages 453-466, August.
    7. Andrea Brasili & Paolo Epifani & Rodolfo Helg, 1999. "On the dynamics of trade patterns," LIUC Papers in Economics 61, Cattaneo University (LIUC).
    8. Kiminori Matsuyama, 2019. "Engel's Law in the Global Economy: Demand‐Induced Patterns of Structural Change, Innovation, and Trade," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 87(2), pages 497-528, March.
    9. Goh, Ai-Ting & Olivier, Jacques, 2002. "Learning by doing, trade in capital goods and growth," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 411-444, March.
    10. Ulrich Schetter & Adrian Jäggi & Maik T. Schneider, 2021. "Inequality, Openness, and Growth through Creative Destruction," CID Working Papers 130a, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    11. Jones, Larry E. & Manuelli, Rodolfo E., 1997. "The sources of growth," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 75-114, January.
    12. Foellmi, Reto & Hanslin Grossmann, Sandra & Kohler, Andreas, 2018. "A dynamic North-South model of demand-induced product cycles," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 63-86.
    13. Saviotti, Pier Paolo & Pyka, Andreas, 2004. "Economic development, qualitative change and employment creation," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 265-287, September.
    14. Lücke, Matthias, 1992. "Technischer Fortschritt und die Arbeitsteilung zwischen Industrie- und Entwicklungsländern: eine empirische Analyse," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 758, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    15. Demmou, Lilas, 2012. "How product innovation in the North may immiserize the South," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 293-304.
    16. An, Galina & Iyigun, Murat F., 2004. "The export technology content, learning by doing and specialization in foreign trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 465-483, December.
    17. Schneider, Johannes & Ziesemer, Thomas, 1994. "What's New and What's Old in New Growth Theory: Endogenous Technology, Microfoundation, and Growth Rate Predictions," MPRA Paper 56132, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Rohini Acharya & Thomas Ziesemer, 1996. "A Closed Economy Model of Horizontal and Vertical Product Differentiation: The Case of Innovation in Biotechnology," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 245-264.
    19. Richard Harris & John Moffat, 2011. "R&D, Innovation and Exporting," SERC Discussion Papers 0073, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    20. Daron Acemoglu & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2001. "Productivity Differences," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(2), pages 563-606.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hrv:faseco:30722111. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Office for Scholarly Communication (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deharus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.