Title

Increasing returns, product quality and international trade

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Economica

Publication Date

1-1-2005

Volume

72

Issue

285

First Page

151

Last Page

169

Abstract

This paper examines the roles of quality and increasing returns in trade. It implies that there is intense intra-industry trade among economies with similar levels of per capita income, which increases both the quality and the quantity of consumption. However, there may be no trade in manufactured goods between rich and poor countries because of the disparity in their optimal qualities of consumption and the high complementarity of the qualities of intermediate goods in production. Thus, it helps explain the observed trade patterns. Moreover, the model shows that a smaller country is more likely to engage in international trade.

DOI

10.1111/j.0013-0427.2005.00406.x

Print ISSN

00130427

E-ISSN

14680335

Publisher Statement

Copyright © The London School of Economics and Political Science 2005

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Fan, C. S. (2005). Increasing returns, product quality and international trade. Economica, 72(285), 151-169. doi: 10.1111/j.0013-0427.2005.00406.x

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