IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sap/wpaper/wp158.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Technological catching up, quality of exports and competitiveness: a sectoral perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Eleonora Cavallaro
  • Piero Esposito
  • Alessia Matano
  • Marcella Mulino

Abstract

In the paper we focus on emerging market economies' pattern of trade, with a view to explaining the different features of competitiveness for high skill- and low skill-intensive firms. We consider a theoretical dynamical setup where high-skill firms engage in innovation activity and gain market shares in high-income "quality dominated" markets thanks to technological catching up, whereas low-skill firms face price competition for their exports. On the basis of the theoretical model, we run econometric estimations for trade between CEECs and EU economies over the period 2000-2007. In the econometric analysis we first test the assumption that UVR is an adequate indicator of quality in trade, showing that in high skill-intensive firms it is systematically correlated to domestic and foreign technological variables; we then use the fitted UVR in the estimation of the role of preference for quality in the evolution of CEECs' market shares. The estimations support the results of the theoretical model as to the role of non-price competitiveness stemming from quality-supply as well as quality-demand factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Eleonora Cavallaro & Piero Esposito & Alessia Matano & Marcella Mulino, 2012. "Technological catching up, quality of exports and competitiveness: a sectoral perspective," Working Papers in Public Economics 158, Department of Economics and Law, Sapienza University of Roma.
    • Handle: RePEc:sap:wpaper:wp158
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.dipecodir.it/wpsap/data/wp158.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brooks, Eileen L., 2006. "Why don't firms export more? Product quality and Colombian plants," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 160-178, June.
    2. Jørgen Nielsen & Teit Lüthje, 2002. "Tests of the empirical classification of horizontal and vertical intra-industry trade," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 138(4), pages 587-604, December.
    3. Mark Bils & Peter J. Klenow, 2001. "Quantifying Quality Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 1006-1030, September.
    4. Wolfgang Keller, 2004. "International Technology Diffusion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 752-782, September.
    5. Piero Esposito & Robert Stehrer, 2009. "The sector bias of skill-biased technical change and the rising skill premium in transition economies," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 351-364, August.
    6. Hallak, Juan Carlos, 2006. "Product quality and the direction of trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 238-265, January.
    7. Abramovitz, Moses, 1986. "Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Behind," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(2), pages 385-406, June.
    8. Sjak Smulders, 2004. "International capital market integration: Implications for convergence, growth, and welfare," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 173-194, January.
    9. Eleonora Cavallaro & Marcella Mulino, 2009. "Technological catching up, competitiveness and growth," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 505-525.
    10. Juan Carlos Hallak & Peter K. Schott, 2011. "Estimating Cross-Country Differences in Product Quality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(1), pages 417-474.
    11. Michael Landesmann & Sebastian Leitner & Robert Stehrer & Terry Ward, 2009. "Skills and Industrial Competitiveness," wiiw Research Reports 356, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    12. Eleonora Cavallaro & Marcella Mulino, 2008. "Vertical Innovation and Catching-Up: Implications of EU Integration for CEECs-5," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 14(3), pages 265-279, August.
    13. Eric A. Verhoogen, 2008. "Trade, Quality Upgrading, and Wage Inequality in the Mexican Manufacturing Sector," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(2), pages 489-530.
    14. Miguel León-Ledesma, 2005. "Exports, Product Differentiation and Knowledge Spillovers," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 363-379, October.
    15. Konstantins Benkovskis & Ramune Rimgailaite, 2011. "The quality and variety of exports from the new EU member states," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 19(4), pages 723-747, October.
    16. Rosario Crinò & Paolo Epifani, 2010. "Productivity, Quality, and Export Intensities," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 824.10, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    17. Uwe Dulleck & Neil Foster & Robert Stehrer & Julia Woerz, 2005. "Dimensions of quality upgrading," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 13(1), pages 51-76, January.
    18. Christophe Rault & Guglielmo Maria Caporale & Robert Sova & Anamaria Sova, 2009. "Trade Specialisation And Economic Convergence: Evidence From Two Eastern European Countries," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp959, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    19. Murphy, Kevin M. & Shleifer, Andrei, 1997. "Quality and trade," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 1-15, June.
    20. Juan Carlos Hallak, 2010. "A Product-Quality View of the Linder Hypothesis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(3), pages 453-466, August.
    21. Flam, Harry & Helpman, Elhanan, 1987. "Vertical Product Differentiation and North-South Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 810-822, December.
    22. Mr. Ashoka Mody & Ms. Deniz O Igan & Ms. Stefania Fabrizio, 2007. "The Dynamics of Product Quality and International Competitiveness," IMF Working Papers 2007/097, International Monetary Fund.
    23. Aiginger, Karl, 1997. "The Use of Unit Values to Discriminate between Price and Quality Competition," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 21(5), pages 571-592, September.
    24. Nancy L. Stokey, 1991. "The Volume and Composition of Trade Between Rich and Poor Countries," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(1), pages 63-80.
    25. Aturupane, Chonira & Djankov, Simeon & Hoekman, Bernard, 1997. "Determinants of intra-industry trade between East and West Europe," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1850, The World Bank.
    26. Bruno Van Pottelsberghe De La Potterie & Frank Lichtenberg, 2001. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Transfer Technology Across Borders?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(3), pages 490-497, August.
    27. repec:kap:iaecre:v:14:y:2008:i:3:p:265-279 is not listed on IDEAS
    28. David Hummels & Peter J. Klenow, 2005. "The Variety and Quality of a Nation's Exports," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 704-723, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Feng Liu & Kwangtae Park & Unjung Whang, 2019. "Organizational Capabilities, Export Growth and Job Creation: An Investigation of Korean SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-16, July.
    2. Giallonardo Luisa & Mulino Marcella, 2016. "Strategic CSR, Heterogeneous Firms and Credit Constraints," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(4), pages 1-19, October.
    3. Arta MULLIQI, 2021. "The role of education in explaining technology-intensive exports: a comparative analysis of transition and non-transition economies," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 12, pages 141-172, June.
    4. Cavallaro, Eleonora & Cutrini, Eleonora, 2019. "Distance and beyond: What drives financial flows to emerging economies?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 533-550.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rosario Crinò & Paolo Epifani, 2009. "Productivity, Quality and Export Behavior (Revised version of: Firm-Export Intensity and Productivity, September 2011)," Development Working Papers 271, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    2. Pablo Fajgelbaum & Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 2011. "Income Distribution, Product Quality, and International Trade," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 119(4), pages 721-765.
    3. Jaimovich, Esteban & Merella, Vincenzo, 2015. "Love for quality, comparative advantage, and trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 376-391.
    4. Alcalá, Francisco, 2016. "Specialization across goods and export quality," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 216-232.
    5. Andrea Ciani, 2021. "Income inequality and the quality of imports," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 157(2), pages 375-416, May.
    6. Juan Carlos Hallak, 2010. "A Product-Quality View of the Linder Hypothesis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(3), pages 453-466, August.
    7. Crinò, Rosario & Ogliari, Laura, 2015. "Financial Frictions, Product Quality, and International Trade," CEPR Discussion Papers 10555, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Veerle Miranda & Marialuz Moreno Badia & Ilke Van Beveren, 2012. "Globalization drives strategic product switching," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 148(1), pages 45-72, April.
    9. Mr. Ashoka Mody & Ms. Deniz O Igan & Ms. Stefania Fabrizio, 2007. "The Dynamics of Product Quality and International Competitiveness," IMF Working Papers 2007/097, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Ardelean, Adina & Lugovskyy, Volodymyr, 2019. "Tariffs, product quality, and the relative prices of durables: Evidence from 1989 to 2009 U.S. microdata," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 54-75.
    11. Juan Carlos Hallak & Peter K. Schott, 2011. "Estimating Cross-Country Differences in Product Quality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(1), pages 417-474.
    12. Curzi, Daniele & Pacca, Lucia, 2015. "Price, quality and trade costs in the food sector," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 147-158.
    13. repec:lic:licosd:33913 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Curzi, Daniele & Pacca, Lucia, 2014. "Estimating Food Quality from Trade Data: An Empirical Assessment," 2014 Third Congress, June 25-27, 2014, Alghero, Italy 173106, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA).
    15. Ferto, Imre & Bojnec, Stefan, 2015. "Quality upgrading in the European-Union agri-food exports," 89th Annual Conference, April 13-15, 2015, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 204225, Agricultural Economics Society.
    16. Raphael Auer, 2009. "Product Heterogeneity, Within-Industry Trade Patterns, and the Home Bias of Consumption?," Working Papers 09.05, Swiss National Bank, Study Center Gerzensee.
    17. Jonathan I. Dingel, 2017. "The Determinants of Quality Specialization," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 84(4), pages 1551-1582.
    18. Arnaud Costinot & Jonathan Vogel & Su Wang, 2013. "An Elementary Theory of Global Supply Chains," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(1), pages 109-144.
    19. Lisandra Flach & Eckhard Janeba, 2017. "Income inequality and export prices across countries," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 50(1), pages 162-200, February.
    20. Eric A. Verhoogen, 2008. "Trade, Quality Upgrading, and Wage Inequality in the Mexican Manufacturing Sector," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(2), pages 489-530.
    21. Jonathan Eaton & Ana Cecília Fieler, 2019. "The Margins of Trade," NBER Working Papers 26124, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Vertical innovation; Knowledge spillovers; Product quality; International competitiveness.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sap:wpaper:wp158. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Luisa Giuriato (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://ecodir.web.uniroma1.it/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.