A PRODUCT-QUALITY VIEW OF THE LINDER HYPOTHESIS

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hallak, Juan Carlos
• 署名单位: Universidad Mayor de San Andres; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/REST_a_00001
• 发表日期: 2010-08
• 页码: 453-466
• 关键词: NONHOMOTHETIC PREFERENCES; INTERNATIONAL-TRADE; income-distribution; factor-proportions; gravity; INEQUALITY; volume; FLOWS; MODEL

摘要

The Linder hypothesis has attracted substantial empirical research over decades. However, the evidence has failed to provide consistent support for it. This paper explains the failure. Building a theoretical framework in which, as in Linder's theory, product quality plays the central role, I show that the Linder hypothesis is formally derived but holds only when formulated as a sector-level prediction. This prediction is then estimated using a sample of 64 countries in 1995. The results support the sectoral Linder hypothesis: controlling for the effect of intersectoral determinants of trade, countries of similar income per capita trade more intensely with one another.