Compétitivités prix et qualité dans le commerce international : une analyse empirique des échanges de douze pays de l'OCDE

The primary aim of this paper is to quantify the respective roles of quality and price competitiveness in the trade performance of twelve OECD countries in the first half of the 1990s. The method used combines analysis of unit values of trade, market shares and relative sizes of the economies in competition on external markets. The resulting typology indicates that national models of trade specialisation are highly diversified in the European Union. Notably, the trade performance of Germany and, to a lesser extent, France seems to be linked to product quality, whereas in the case of Italy and Spain it seems to be based more on relatively low selling prices. A proxy for the quality competitiveness of exporting countries at sectoral level is derived from this descriptive analysis and added to explanatory factors in a market-share equation. The result is a rise in the estimated price-elasticity of imports, which then becomes compatible with elasticities of substitution that are greater than unity, consistent with the underlying theoretical modelling.