Comparative Advantage and Heterogenous Firms

60 Pages Posted: 9 Nov 2004

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)

Stephen J. Redding

Princeton University

Peter K. Schott

Yale University - School of Management; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Yale University - Cowles Foundation

Date Written: September 2004

Abstract

This Paper presents a model of international trade that features heterogeneous firms, relative endowment differences across countries, and consumer taste for variety. The Paper demonstrates that firm reactions to trade liberalization generate endogenous Ricardian productivity responses at the industry level that magnify countries' comparative advantage. Focusing on the wide range of firm-level reactions to falling trade costs, the model also shows that, as trade costs fall, firms in comparative advantage industries are more likely to export, that relative firm size and the relative number of firms increases more in comparative advantage industries and that job turnover is higher in comparative advantage industries than in comparative disadvantage industries.

Keywords: Heckscher-Ohlin, international trade, inter-industry trade, trade costs, entry and exit

JEL Classification: F11, F12, L11

Suggested Citation

Bernard, Andrew B. and Redding, Stephen J. and Schott, Peter K., Comparative Advantage and Heterogenous Firms (September 2004). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=617306

Andrew B. Bernard

Dartmouth College - Tuck School of Business ( email )

100 Tuck Hall
Hanover, NH 03755
United States
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)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

Stephen J. Redding (Contact Author)

Princeton University ( email )

Princeton, NJ 08544-1021
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.princeton.edu/~reddings/

Peter K. Schott

Yale University - School of Management ( email )

135 Prospect Street
P.O. Box 208200
New Haven, CT 06520-8200
United States
203-436-4260 (Phone)
203-436-6974 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.som.yale.edu/faculty/pks4

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Yale University - Cowles Foundation

Box 208281
New Haven, CT 06520-8281
United States

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