International trade and retail market performance and structure: Theory and empirical evidence

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Meinen, Philipp; Raff, Horst
• 署名单位: Deutsche Bundesbank; Aarhus University; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; University of Kiel
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2018.08.010
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 99-114
• 关键词: International trade; Consumer goods; Retailing; Retail chains; Market concentration

摘要

We use Danish microdata for the period 1999 to 2008 to examine how greater consumer goods imports affect retail market performance and structure. Based on a propensity score matching approach, we estimate that retailers that start to import have 8% greater sales, 6% greater profits, and 2% greater markups in the year of import initiation compared to non-importing retailers. These differences are quite persistent. For instance, we estimate that cumulative sales of import starters are up to 30% higher on average after three years than for comparable non-importers. We also find that imports are associated with a higher exit probability of small retailers and greater local retail market concentration. We argue that the observed adjustments may imply additional gains from trade absent from models lacking a distribution sector. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.