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Explaining the Performance of Italian Exports during the Crisis: (Medium) Quality Matters

Author

Listed:
  • Piero Esposito

    (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies)

  • Claudio Vicarelli

    (Italian National Institute of Statistics)

Abstract
A recent study argues that the contraction in total trade that occurred during the crisis was mainly driven by the fall in high quality goods, which should have higher income elasticity owing to a non-linear Engel curve. Our aims are, on the one hand, to test the quality Engel curve assumption for EU15 imports from Italy and, on the other hand, to ascertain whether a break in income elasticities – either temporary or permanent – occurred during the global financial crisis as a result of the changing preference for quality of consumers in the old EU member states. We test these hypotheses by estimating income and price elasticities of EU imports of consumption goods from Italy for both volumes and market shares. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we introduce a medium quality category, allowing us to make a more detailed reading of the stylised facts about the performance of Italian trade during the crisis. Second, we perform three different versions of the mean group estimator. Our results are consistent with the assumption of a change in the preference for quality. This change may be due either to a shift in consumption from high to medium quality Italian products or to the higher quality, actual or perceived, of Italian medium quality goods compared with the varieties imported from the rest of the world.

Suggested Citation

  • Piero Esposito & Claudio Vicarelli, 2011. "Explaining the Performance of Italian Exports during the Crisis: (Medium) Quality Matters," Working Papers LuissLab 11954, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, LUISS Guido Carli.
    • Handle: RePEc:lui:lleewp:1195
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Natalie & Juvenal, Luciana, 2018. "Quality and the Great Trade Collapse," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 59-76.
    2. Rudolfs Bems & Julian di Giovanni, 2016. "Income-Induced Expenditure Switching," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(12), pages 3898-3931, December.
    3. Vladimirov, Zhelyu & Simeonova-Ganeva, Ralitsa & Ganev, Kaloyan, 2013. "Significance of globalization-specific factors for SME competitiveness: a conceptual model and an empirical test," MPRA Paper 63518, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Product Quality; Export Elasticity; Panel Data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F01 - International Economics - - General - - - Global Outlook
    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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