Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/40324 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
Tübinger Diskussionsbeiträge No. 317
Publisher: 
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Tübingen
Abstract: 
The business literature suggests that exporters either use trade intermediaries or own foreign sales representations. Standard trade models are silent about this choice. We develop a model where producers differ with respect to competitive advantage and where trade intermediaries arise endogenously. Intermediaries allow producers to access a foreign market at lower fixed costs, but the lack of enforceable cross-country contracts reduces variable revenue. Producers select into different export modes along their characteristics. Relative prevalence of trade intermediation is stronger the bigger the risk of expropriation in the foreign country and the lower the severity of contractual frictions, the degree of heterogeneity amongst producers, and the elasticity of substitution between varieties. The volume of bilateral trade and the stock of FDI appear as complements in the model. Tentative empirical evidence confirms the main predictions.
Subjects: 
International trade
trade intermediation
heterogeneous firms
incomplete contracts
JEL: 
F12
F15
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
446.21 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.