The Elasticity of Substitution between Domestic and Foreign Goods: A Quantitative Survey

Josef Bajzik, Tomas Havranek, Zuzana Irsova and Jiří Schwarz

EconStor Preprints from ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics

Abstract: A key parameter in international economics is the elasticity of substitution between domestic and foreign goods, also called the Armington elasticity. Yet estimates vary widely. We collect 3,524 reported estimates of the elasticity, construct 34 variables that reflect the context in which researchers obtain their estimates, and examine what drives the heterogeneity in the results. To account for inherent model uncertainty, we employ Bayesian and frequentist model averaging. We present the first application of newly developed non-linear techniques to correct for publication bias. Our main results are threefold. First, there is publication bias against small and statistically insignificant elasticities. Second, differences in results are best explained by differences in data: aggregation, frequency, size, and dimension. Third, the mean elasticity implied by the literature after correcting for both publication bias and potential misspecifications is 3.

Keywords: Armington; trade elasticity; meta-analysis; publication bias; Bayesian model averaging (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C83 D12 F14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ecm and nep-int
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Elasticity of Substitution between Domestic and Foreign Goods: A Quantitative Survey (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:esprep:200207

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