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Which Firms are Left in the Periphery? - Spatial Sorting of Heterogeneous Firms with Scale Economies in Transportation

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  • Forslid, Rikard
  • Okubo, Toshihiro

Abstract

This paper introduces scale economies or density economies in transportation in a trade and geography model with heterogeneous firms. This relatively small change to the standard model produces a new pattern of spatial sorting among firms. Contrary to the existing literature, our model produces the result that firms of intermediate productivity relocate to the large core region, whereas high and low productivity firms remain in the periphery. Trade liberalisation leads to a gradual relocation to the core, with the most productive firms remaining in the periphery.

Suggested Citation

  • Forslid, Rikard & Okubo, Toshihiro, 2013. "Which Firms are Left in the Periphery? - Spatial Sorting of Heterogeneous Firms with Scale Economies in Transportation," CEPR Discussion Papers 9413, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9413
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    Cited by:

    1. ISHIKAWA, Jota & 石川, 城太 & TARUI, Nori & 樽井, 礼, 2015. "Backfiring with backhaul problems: Trade and Industrial Policies with Endogenous Transport Costs," Discussion paper series HIAS-E-12, Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study, Hitotsubashi University.
    2. Kaitila, Ville, 2013. "Specialisation and/or Convergence: Structure of European Exports and Production," ETLA Working Papers 12, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    3. Hayato Kato & Toshihiro Okubo, 2022. "The Resilience of FDI to Natural Disasters Through Industrial Linkages," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 82(1), pages 177-225, May.
    4. Steven Brakman & Charles Marrewijk & Mark Partridge, 2015. "Local Consequences Of Global Production Processes," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 1-9, January.
    5. Miguel Puente‐Ajovín & Fernando Sanz‐Gracia, 2021. "Transport costs in new economic geography models: A more realistic approach," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 17(3), pages 221-233, September.
    6. Ishikawa, Jota & Tarui, Nori, 2018. "Backfiring with backhaul problems," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 81-98.
    7. Kanehara, Daishoku & Kamei, Keita, 2019. "Transport Price, Product Differentiation and R&D in an Oligopoly," MPRA Paper 93148, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Ting Ding & Wenzhong Zhu & Ming Zhao, 2022. "Does Cross-Border Logistics Performance Contribute to Export Competitiveness? Evidence from China Based on the Iceberg Transport Cost Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    9. Ajayi, Patricia & Ogunrinola, Adedeji, 2020. "Growth, Trade Openness and Environmental Degradation in Nigeria," MPRA Paper 100713, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Nasreen, Samia & Ahmed, Khalid & Hammoudeh, Shawkat, 2017. "Trade openness–carbon emissions nexus: The importance of turning points of trade openness for country panels," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 221-232.
    11. Anping Chen & Tianshi Dai & Mark D. Partridge, 2021. "Agglomeration and firm wage inequality: Evidence from China," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 352-386, March.
    12. Rikard Forslid & Toshihiro Okubo, 2021. "Agglomeration of low-productive entrepreneurs to large regions: a simple model," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 471-486, October.
    13. Amendolagine, Vito & Crescenzi, Riccardo & Rabellotti, Roberta, 2022. "The geography of acquisitions and greenfield investments: firm heterogeneity and regional institutional conditions," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115597, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Forslid, Rikard & Okubo, Toshihiro, 2018. "Trade Liberalization and the Agglomeration of Heterogeneous Entrepreneurs," CEPR Discussion Papers 13381, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Masashige Hamano & Wessel N. Vermeulen, 2017. "Adapting to within-country export barriers: Evidence from the Japan 2011 Tsunami," Working Papers 1706, Waseda University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics.
    16. Rikard Forslid & Toshihiro Okubo, 2016. "Big is Beautiful when Exporting," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 330-343, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Heterogeneous firms; Scale economies in transportation;

    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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