Fixed Export Cost heterogeneity, Trade and Welfare

Schröder, Philipp J.H. and Jørgensen, Jan G. (2007): Fixed Export Cost heterogeneity, Trade and Welfare. Forthcoming in:

Abstract

Recent literature on the workhorse model of intra-industry trade has explored heterogeneous cost structures at the firm level. These approaches have proven to add realism and predictive power. This paper presents a new and simple heterogeneous-firms specification. We develop a symmetric two-country intra-industry trade model where firms are of two different marginal costs types and where fixed export costs are heterogeneous across firms. This model traces many of the stylized facts of international trade. However, we find that with heterogeneous fixed export costs there exists a positive bilateral tariff that maximizes national and world welfare.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Intra-industry trade, trade liberalization, monopolistic competition, heterogeneous firms,welfare, protectionism
• Subjects: F - International Economics > F1 - Trade > F15 - Economic Integration; F - International Economics > F1 - Trade > F13 - Trade Policy ; International Trade Organizations; F - International Economics > F1 - Trade > F12 - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies ; Fragmentation

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