Growth-led exports: is variety the spice of trade?

Joseph Gagnon

No 822, International Finance Discussion Papers from Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.)

Abstract: Fast-growing countries tend to experience rapid export growth with little secular change in their terms of trade. This contradicts the standard Armington trade model, which predicts that fast-growing countries can experience rapid export growth only to the extent that they accept declining terms of trade. This paper generalizes the monopolistic competition trade model of Helpman and Krugman (1985), providing a basis for growth-led exports without declining terms of trade. The key mechanism behind this result is that fast-growing countries are able to develop new varieties of products that can be exported without pushing down the prices of existing products. There is strong support for the new model in long-run export growth of many countries in the post-war era.

Keywords: International trade; Product differentiation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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