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Product Standards and Margins of Trade: Firm Level Evidence

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  • Lionel Fontagné
  • Gianluca Orefice
  • Roberta Piermartini
  • Nadia Rocha

Abstract

This paper analyses the trade effects of restrictive product standards on the margins of trade for a large panel of French firms. To focus on restrictive product standards only, we use a new database compiling the list of measures that have been raised as concerns in dedicated committees of the WTO. We restrict our analysis to the subset of Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) regulatory measures and analyse the effects of product standards on three variables: (i) probability to export and to exit the export market (firm-product extensive margins), (ii) value exported (firm-product intensive margin) and (iii) export prices. In particular we study whether firms size, market shares and export orientation modify the effect of SPS measures. We find that SPS measures discourage exports. We also find a negative effect of SPS imposition on the intensive margins of trade. Finally, the negative effects of SPS measures on the extensive and intensive margins of trade are attenuated for big firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Lionel Fontagné & Gianluca Orefice & Roberta Piermartini & Nadia Rocha, 2013. "Product Standards and Margins of Trade: Firm Level Evidence," Working Papers 2013-06, CEPII research center.
    • Handle: RePEc:cii:cepidt:2013-06
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    International trade; firm heterogeneity; multi-product exporters; non-tariff barriers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration

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