Wholesalers in international trade

Matthieu Crozet, Guy Lalanne and Sandra Poncet ()
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Guy Lalanne: INSEE - Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (INSEE), PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement

Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) from HAL

Abstract: Recent empirical research in international trade has revealed overwhelming evidence that, in all countries, a remarkably small proportion of firms report exports in Customs statistics. However, a large share of these are wholesalers. This suggests that the number of producers selling their products abroad might be much greater than that suggested by a simple count of the firms directly reporting their exports. This paper sheds light on the role of wholesalers in international trade. Our model uses very general assumptions to show that intermediated exporters may contribute significantly to the extension of countries' export opportunities. The model predicts a twofold role in international trade. First, wholesalers alleviate the difficulty of reaching less-accessible markets. Second, they help less-efficient firms to supply foreign markets, thus increasing the number of exported varieties at the aggregate level. We use French firm-level export data to provide empirical support for these two predictions.

Keywords: Wholesalers; International trade; Intermediated exports; Heterogeneous firms; Quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-02
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (58)

Published in European Economic Review, 2013, 58, pp.1-17. ⟨10.1016/j.euroecorev.2012.10.005⟩

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Related works:
Journal Article: Wholesalers in international trade (2013)
Working Paper: Wholesalers in international trade (2013)
Working Paper: Wholesalers in international trade (2013)
Working Paper: Wholesalers in International Trade (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-01510997

DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2012.10.005

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