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Country size and trade in intermediate goods

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  • Kwok Tong Soo

Abstract

This paper documents a negative relationship between country size and the share of consumption goods in total exports. A model is developed, based on the division of labour and comparative advantage, to explain this relationship. Labour is used to produce traded intermediate inputs which are used in the production of traded final goods. Large countries gain relatively more from comparative advantage than from the division of labour, while the opposite is true for small countries. As in the data, large countries export a smaller share of final goods and a larger share of intermediate goods than small countries.

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  • Kwok Tong Soo, 2016. "Country size and trade in intermediate goods," Working Papers 127876352, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    • Handle: RePEc:lan:wpaper:127876352
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Country size; division of labour; comparative advantage; gains from trade; intermediate goods trade;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F11 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Neoclassical Models of Trade

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