Exporting Costs and Multi-Product Shipments

David Gomtsyan and Alexander Tarasov

No 8652, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: In this paper, employing transaction level data for Russian imports, we explore the role of multi-product shipments in explaining shipping patterns across countries. First, we document that firms from more developed countries on average include a higher number of different products into a single shipment. We then show that such multiproduct shipments can potentially explain why more developed countries tend to have a higher number of shipments per period with a lower average quantity and value. According to our proposed mechanism, multi-product shipments allow firms to split fixed costs per shipment across many products and, therefore, reduce total shipment costs. As a result, more developed countries tend to have lower fixed costs per shipment. Finally, we construct a simple partial equilibrium model that enables us to quantify the potential increases in trade volumes and welfare created by the multi-product shipment option.

Keywords: asymmetric trade costs; fixed costs per shipment; advanced countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis and nep-int
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Exporting costs and multi‐product shipments (2022)
Working Paper: Exporting costs and multi-product shipments (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8652

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