The margin of importing sectors in the gains from trade

May 12, 2020
Issue 2020-07

Summary

A common assumption in the quantitative Ricardian international trade literature is that within a country, import shares are equalized across sectors. This assumption is at odds with the data, which show within-country heterogeneity in sectoral import behavior. I build a multi-country, multi-sector general equilibrium Ricardian trade model, in which I include a new extensive and intensive international trade margin at the importing sector level. Counterfactual analysis shows that accounting for within-country sector-specific import behavior is significant for the level of welfare gains from trade. Calibrations based on two cross-country data sources show that a benchmark Ricardian model with equalized import shares across sectors underestimates welfare gains from trade by 13 to 24% on average compared to the model accounting for within-country sectoral import patterns. The benchmark model underestimates the productivity gains of sectors which account for most country-level imports and the spillovers of their productivity gains on other sectors through sectoral linkages.

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Issue:
07
Pages:
50
JEL classification:
F10, F11, F14
Keywords:
Gains from trade, sectoral imports, proportionality assumption
Year:
2020

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Author(s)

  • Dr. Laurence Wicht

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