Exporter heterogeneity and price discrimination: A quantitative view

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Jung, Jae Wook; Simonovska, Ina; Weinberger, Ariel
• 署名单位: Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP); University of California System; University of California Davis; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Oklahoma System; University of Oklahoma - Norman
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2018.09.011
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 103-124
• 关键词: Variable mark-ups; Non-homothetic preferences; Generalized CES; heterogeneous firms; international trade; gravity

摘要

We quantify a general equilibrium model of international trade and pricing-to-market that features firm-level heterogeneity and consumers with non-homothetic preferences-generalized CES (GCES). We demonstrate theoretically that, relative to existing frameworks, the GCES model exhibits features of the data that are essential to conduct quantitative analysis. The framework can reconcile the documented price dispersion across firms and markets, while maintaining consistency with cross-sectional observations on firm productivity, markups, and sales. We estimate the model's parameters to match bilateral trade flows across 66 countries as well as moments from the markup and sales distributions of Chilean firms. The model reconciles both micro and macro facts quantitatively, and yields trade elasticity estimates that are in line with the existing literature. Hence, we conclude that the GCES model constitutes a plausible and parsimonious quantitative workhorse framework that can be used to analyze gains from trade. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.