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On the impact of competition on trade and firm location

Author

Listed:
  • Toshihiro Okubo

    (Keio University, Japan)

  • Pierre Picard

    (CREA, Université du Luxembourg)

  • Jacques-François Thisse

    (Université catholique de Louvain)

Abstract

We study how the level of trade costs and the intensity of competition interact to explain the nature and intensity of trade within a given industry and the location of firms across countries. As trade costs decrease from very high to very low values, the global economy moves from autarky to two-way trade, through one-way trade from the larger to the smaller region. By exploring the intensive and extensive margins of exports, we investigate how the intensity of trade reacts to the degree of competitiveness. Furthermore, when firms are free to change location, they flow from the small to the large country, and the larger country is always a net exported on the manufactured good. Firms located in the big country have a bigger size than those located in the small one. Under one-way trade, the relocation of firms changes their attitude toward export.

Suggested Citation

  • Toshihiro Okubo & Pierre Picard & Jacques-François Thisse, 2014. "On the impact of competition on trade and firm location," DEM Discussion Paper Series 14-05, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    • Handle: RePEc:luc:wpaper:14-05
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    File URL: https://hdl.handle.net/10993/17988
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Picard, Pierre M. & Okubo, Toshihiro, 2012. "Firms' locations under demand heterogeneity," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 961-974.
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    1. Hayakawa, Kazunobu & Ito, Tadashi & Okubo, Toshihiro, 2017. "On the stability of intra-industry trade," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-12.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    trade; competition; firm location; capital mobility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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