search query: @indexterm INTERNATIONAL TRADE / total: 2170
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| Author: | Davis, D.R. Weinstein, D.E. |
| Title: | Why countries trade - Insights from firm-level data |
| Journal: | Journal of the Japanese and International Economies
2003 : DEC, VOL. 17:4, p. 432-447 |
| Index terms: | International trade Comparative advantage Specialization Japan |
| Language: | eng |
| Abstract: | Two theories dominate economic thinking on the causes of international exchange. Comparative advantage explains trade by inherent differences between countries. Increasing returns explains trade by the productivity and variety advantages from specialization. The authors place comparative advantage and increasing returns in direct contest, and quantify their relative importance in contributing to production structure within the OECD, and across regions of Japan. In doing so the authors aim to develop a simple analytic structure that integrates the principal theories and so provide a sound and sensible structure for their empirical investigation. The authors also hope to show how a data set on Japanese firms can be employed to give answers to these central questions. Employing a rich new data set, the authors provide a first serious attempt to provide an empirical answer of the relative contribution of the theories to actual trade patterns. |
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