Trade elasticities, heterogeneity, and optimal tariffs

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Soderbery, Anson
• 署名单位: Purdue University System; Purdue University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2018.04.008
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 44-62
• 关键词: Export supply; Import demand; TRADE; structural estimation; Optimal tariffs

摘要

We develop a structural estimator for heterogeneous supply and demand in the absence of instrumental variables. Using only readily available bilateral trade data we show how to leverage variation in prices and quantities across multiple markets in order to consistently estimate heterogeneous elasticities. Our elasticity estimates follow intuitive patterns of importer and exporter market power and produce believable distributions and magnitudes. To highlight the flexibility of the estimator, we extend the cornerstone theories of non-cooperative optimal trade policy to a setting where exporters have heterogeneous supply elasticities. Applying our estimates to trade and tariff data worldwide, we show that heterogeneous export supply elasticities provide new avenues for identification. We demonstrate statistically positive and persistent links between non-cooperative optimal tariffs and applied tariffs worldwide. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.