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Trust, firm organization, and the pattern of comparative advantage

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  • Cingano, Federico
  • Pinotti, Paolo

Abstract

Interpersonal trust favors the delegation of decisions and tasks within firms, allowing the expansion of more productive units. We show that this interaction between trust and firm organization contributes to shaping the pattern of comparative advantage: high-trust regions and countries exhibit larger value-added and export shares in delegation-intensive industries relative to other industries. Consistent with the idea that trust allows firms to expand beyond a narrow circle of family members and friends, such effects are driven by an increase in average firm size, reflecting in turn a shift of the size distribution away from the smallest firms and toward the small-to-medium ones. According to our estimates, trust is no less relevant than human or physical capital, or institutions in shaping the pattern of comparative advantage.

Suggested Citation

  • Cingano, Federico & Pinotti, Paolo, 2016. "Trust, firm organization, and the pattern of comparative advantage," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 1-13.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:inecon:v:100:y:2016:i:c:p:1-13
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2016.01.006
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    2. Antonio Ciccone & Elias Papaioannou, 2023. "Estimating Cross-Industry Cross-Country Interaction Models Using Benchmark Industry Characteristics," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(649), pages 130-158.
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    6. Godlewski, Christophe J. & Nhung Le, Hong, 2024. "Family ties and firm performance empirical evidence from East Asia," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 150-166.
    7. Ganau, Roberto & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2023. "Firm-level productivity growth returns of social capital: Evidence from Western Europe," CEPR Discussion Papers 17979, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Brandon N. Cline & Claudia R. Williamson, 2020. "Trust, regulation, and contracting institutions," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 26(4), pages 859-895, September.
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    10. Ding, Congming & Ma, Qiucen, 2024. "Does social trust promote the size of enterprises? Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
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    12. Roberto Ganau & Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose, 2023. "Firm‐level productivity growth returns of social capital: Evidence from Western Europe," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(3), pages 529-551, June.
    13. Abdelsalam, Omneya & Chantziaras, Antonios & Batten, Jonathan A. & Aysan, Ahmet Faruk, 2021. "Major shareholders’ trust and market risk: Substituting weak institutions with trust," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    14. Majocchi, Antonio & D’Angelo, Alfredo & Forlani, Emanuele & Buck, Trevor, 2018. "Bifurcation bias and exporting: Can foreign work experience be an answer? Insight from European family SMEs," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 237-247.
    15. Asuyama, Yoko, 2020. "Delegation to workers across countries and industries: Interacting effects of social capital and coordination needs," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trust; Delegation; Comparative advantage; Firm size;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production

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