IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2021-174.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Tariffs, productivity, and resource misallocation

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Kilumelume
  • Bruno Morando
  • Carol Newman
  • John Rand

Abstract

An often-neglected potential negative consequence of tariffs is the impact they may have on the misallocation of factor inputs. Trade protection can provide space for domestic firms to increase prices and mark-ups, allowing low-productivity firms to survive, thereby leading to a sub-optimal allocation of resources. This paper explores the impact of tariffs on the allocation of capital using administrative data from South Africa. We find that tariffs are highly correlated with capital misallocation, leading to aggregate productivity losses of 5-10 per cent.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Kilumelume & Bruno Morando & Carol Newman & John Rand, 2021. "Tariffs, productivity, and resource misallocation," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-174, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2021-174
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2021-174-tariffs-productivity-resource-misallocation.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joel M. David & Hugo A. Hopenhayn & Venky Venkateswaran, 2016. "Information, Misallocation, and Aggregate Productivity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(2), pages 943-1005.
    2. Mary Amiti & Jozef Konings, 2007. "Trade Liberalization, Intermediate Inputs, and Productivity: Evidence from Indonesia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1611-1638, December.
    3. Joel M. David & Venky Venkateswaran, 2019. "The Sources of Capital Misallocation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(7), pages 2531-2567, July.
    4. Andrea Caggese & Vicente Cunat, 2013. "Financing Constraints, Firm Dynamics, Export Decisions, and Aggregate Productivity," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(1), pages 177-193, January.
    5. Pierce, Justin R., 2011. "Plant-level responses to antidumping duties: Evidence from U.S. manufacturers," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 222-233.
    6. Peter N. Gal, 2013. "Measuring Total Factor Productivity at the Firm Level using OECD-ORBIS," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1049, OECD Publishing.
    7. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    8. Pierce, Justin R., 2011. "Plant-level responses to antidumping duties: Evidence from U.S. manufacturers," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 222-233.
    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. Hylke Vandenbussche & Christian Viegelahn, 2016. "Input reallocation within firms," Working Papers of Department of Economics, Leuven 553943, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Economics, Leuven.
    2. Jabbour, Liza & Tao, Zhigang & Vanino, Enrico & Zhang, Yan, 2019. "The good, the bad and the ugly: Chinese imports, European Union anti-dumping measures and firm performance," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 1-20.
    3. Chandra, Piyush & Long, Cheryl, 2013. "Anti-dumping Duties and their Impact on Exporters: Firm Level Evidence from China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 169-186.
    4. Alessandro Barattieri & Matteo Cacciatore, 2023. "Self-Harming Trade Policy? Protectionism and Production Networks," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 97-128, April.
    5. Muûls, Mirabelle, 2015. "Exporters, importers and credit constraints," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 333-343.
    6. Cadot, Olivier, 2014. "NTM harmonization, profits, and productivity: Firm-level evidence from Morocco," Papers 780, World Trade Institute.
    7. Lu, Yi & Tao, Zhigang & Zhang, Yan, 2013. "How do exporters respond to antidumping investigations?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 290-300.
    8. Meng, Ning & Milner, Chris & Song, Huasheng, 2020. "Antidumping and heterogeneous quality adjustment of multi-product firms: Evidence from Chinese exporters," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 147-161.
    9. Dolores Añón Higón & Juan A. Máñez & María E. Rochina-Barrachina & Amparo Sanchis & Juan A. Sanchis, 2022. "Firms’ distance to the European productivity frontier," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(2), pages 197-228, June.
    10. Chad P. Bown & Paola Conconi & Aksel Erbahar & Lorenzo Trimarchi, 2020. "Trade Protection along Supply Chains," CESifo Working Paper Series 8812, CESifo.
    11. J. Bradford Jensen & Dennis P. Quinn & Stephen Weymouth, 2014. "The Influences Of Foreign Direct Investments, Intrafirm Trading, And Currency Undervaluation On U.S. Firm Trade Disputes," Working Papers 14-04, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    12. Vandenbussche, Hylke & Viegelahn, Christian, 2018. "Input reallocation within multi-product firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 63-79.
    13. Emanuele Brancati & Raffaele Brancati & Dario Guarascio & Andrea Maresca & Manuel Romagnoli & Antonello Zanfei, 2018. "Firm-level Drivers of Export Performance and External Competitiveness in Italy," European Economy - Discussion Papers 087, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    14. Crowley, Meredith A. & Han, Lu & Prayer, Thomas, 2024. "The pro-competitive effects of trade agreements," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    15. Tibor Besedeš & Thomas J. Prusa, 2013. "Antidumping and the Death of Trade," NBER Working Papers 19555, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Hu, Weiwei & Li, Kai & Xu, Yiming, 2023. "Leasing and the allocation efficiency of finance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    17. David Kohn & Fernando Leibovici & Michal Szkup, 2023. "No Credit, No Gain: Trade Liberalization Dynamics, Production Inputs, And Financial Development," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 64(2), pages 809-836, May.
    18. David Kohn & Fernando Leibovici & Michal Szkup, 2021. "Financial Frictions and International Trade," Working Papers 2021-009, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    19. Yi Liu & Jun Deng, 2016. "Antidumping under International Fragmentation: Evidence from China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 306-316, February.
    20. Laura Rovegno, 2013. "Trade protection and market power: evidence from US antidumping and countervailing duties," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 149(3), pages 443-476, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tariffs; Productivity; Misallocation; South Africa;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:unu:wpaper:wp-2021-174. 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: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.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.