Income-related biases in international trade: what do trademark registration data tell us?

Carsten Fink, Beata Smarzynska Javorcik () and Mariana Spatareanu

No 3150, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Economists have long recognized that richer countries trade more among themselves than with poorer economies due to a closer match of exporter supply structures and importer preferences. In the literature, the closeness of supply and demand has traditionally been determined by the quality of products-as expressed in the so-called Linder hypothesis. This paper examines an extension of the Linder hypothesis by also considering the extent of horizontal product differentiation as another determinant of the closeness of supply and demand. The empirical analysis employs information on international trademark registrations to test whether richer countries import more from countries whose exports are of higher quality and exhibit a greater degree of product differentiation. The results lend support to the hypothesis in most consumer goods sectors but not in intermediate goods sectors.

Keywords: Environmental Economics&Policies; Economic Theory&Research; Transport and Trade Logistics; Markets and Market Access; Common Carriers Industry; Economic Theory&Research; Environmental Economics&Policies; Access to Markets; Markets and Market Access; TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003-10-01
View list of references View citations in EconPapers

Downloads: (external link)
http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentSer ... ered/PDF/WPS3150.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Income-Related Biases in International Trade: What Do Trademark Registration Data Tell Us? (2005)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3150

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank
Address: 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433
Contact information at EDIRC.
Series data maintained by Roula I. Yazigi ().