Two-Sided Heterogeneity and Trade

45 Pages Posted: 16 Oct 2013

See all articles by Andrew B. Bernard

Andrew B. Bernard

Dartmouth College - Tuck School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Andreas Moxnes

University of Oslo - Department of Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Karen Helene Ulltveit-Moe

University of Oslo - Department of Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: October 2013

Abstract

Empirical studies of firms within industries consistently report substantial heterogeneity in measures of performance such as size and productivity. This paper explores the consequences of joint heterogeneity on the supply side (sellers) and the demand side (buyers) in international trade using a novel transaction-level dataset from Norway. Domestic exporters as well as foreign importers are explicitly identified in each transaction to every destination. The buyer-seller linked data reveal a number of new stylized facts on the distributions of buyers per exporter and exporters per buyer, the matching among sellers and buyers and the variation of buyer dispersion across destinations. The paper develops a model of trade with heterogeneous importers as well as heterogeneous exporters where matches are subject to a relation-specific fixed cost. The model matches the stylized facts and generates new testable predictions emphasizing the importance of importer heterogeneity in explaining trade patterns.

Keywords: exporters, Heterogeneous firms, importers, trade elasticity

JEL Classification: F10, F12, F14

Suggested Citation

Bernard, Andrew B. and Moxnes, Andreas and Ulltveit-Moe, Karen Helene, Two-Sided Heterogeneity and Trade (October 2013). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP9681, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2341044

Andrew B. Bernard (Contact Author)

Dartmouth College - Tuck School of Business ( email )

100 Tuck Hall
Hanover, NH 03755
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603-646-0302 (Phone)
603-646-9084 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/pages/faculty/Andrew.Bernard/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

Andreas Moxnes

University of Oslo - Department of Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 1095 Blindern
N-0317 Oslo
Norway

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Karen Helene Ulltveit-Moe

University of Oslo - Department of Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 1095 Blindern
N-0317 Oslo
Norway

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

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