Trade and growth with heterogeneous firms

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Baldwin, Richard E.; Robert-Nicoud, Frederic
• 署名单位: University of London; London School Economics & Political Science
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2007.05.004
• 发表日期: 2008
• 页码: 21-34
• 关键词: Trade and endogenous growth; heterogeneous firms; Dynamic versus static efficiency; Variable barriers to trade; Technical barriers to trade

摘要

This paper explores the impact of trade on growth when firms are heterogeneous. We find that greater openness produces anti- and pro-growth effects. The Hopenhayn-Melitz-model selection effects raises the expected cost of introducing a new variety and this tends to slow the rate of new-variety introduction and hence growth. The pro-growth effect stems from the impact that freer trade has on the marginal cost of innovating. The balance of the two effects is ambiguous with the sign depending upon the exact nature of the innovation technology and its connection to international trade in goods and ideas. We consider five special cases (these include the Grossman-Helpman, the Coe-Helpman, and the Rivera-Batiz-Romer models) two of which suggest that trade harms growth; the others predicting the opposite. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.