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European High-End Varieties in International Competition

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  • Lionel Fontagné
  • Sophie Hatte

Abstract

We study international competition in high-end varieties for 416 detailed HS6 product categories marketed by the leading French luxury brands. We construct a world database of trade flows for these products, computing unit values of related bilateral trade flows and analyzing competition among the main exporters. We use the observed distribution of unit values to define a high-end market segment. Exports of high-end varieties are shown to be less sensitive to distance, and found more sensitive to destination country wealth than other varieties, but only in relation to countries already producing a large range of luxury brands, pointing to a first-mover advantage.

Suggested Citation

  • Lionel Fontagné & Sophie Hatte, 2014. "European High-End Varieties in International Competition," Working Papers 2014-27, CEPII research center.
    • Handle: RePEc:cii:cepidt:2014-27
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Vincent Boitier & Antoine Vatan, 2014. "Why Do Homogeneous Firms Export Differently ? A Density Externality Approach of Trade," Working Papers 2014-06, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Product Differentiation; Market Shares; Unit Values;
    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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