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What Goods Do Countries Trade? New Ricardian Predictions

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  • Arnaud Costinot
  • Ivana Komunjer
Abstract
Though one of the pillars of the theory of international trade, the extreme predictions of the Ricardian model have made it unsuitable for empirical purposes. A seminal contribution of Eaton and Kortum (2002) is to demonstrate that random productivity shocks are sufficient to make the Ricardian model empirically relevant. While successful at explaining trade volumes, their model remains silent with regards to one important question: What goods do countries trade? Our main contribution is to generalize their approach and provide an empirically meaningful answer to this question.

Suggested Citation

  • Arnaud Costinot & Ivana Komunjer, 2007. "What Goods Do Countries Trade? New Ricardian Predictions," NBER Working Papers 13691, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13691
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. James E Anderson & Yoto V, 2010. "Specialisation: Pro and Anti-Globalizing 1990-2002," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 15, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    3. Chen, Natalie & Novy, Dennis, 2008. "International Trade Integration: A Disaggregated Approach," CEPR Discussion Papers 7103, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Morrow, Peter M., 2010. "Ricardian-Heckscher-Ohlin comparative advantage: Theory and evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 137-151, November.
    5. Costas Arkolakis & Arnaud Costinot & Andres Rodriguez-Clare, 2012. "New Trade Models, Same Old Gains?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 94-130, February.
    6. Sergei Koulayev, 2009. "Estimating demand in search markets: the case of online hotel bookings," Working Papers 09-16, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    7. Christian Hepenstrick & Alexander Tarasov, 2015. "Per capita income and the extensive margin of bilateral trade," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(4), pages 1561-1599, November.
    8. Arnaud Costinot, 2009. "An Elementary Theory of Comparative Advantage," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(4), pages 1165-1192, July.
    9. Chor, Davin, 2010. "Unpacking sources of comparative advantage: A quantitative approach," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 152-167, November.
    10. Cheng‐Te Lee & Shang‐Fen Wu, 2023. "Technology advantage, terms of trade, and pattern of trade," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 19(1), pages 166-174, March.
    11. Matilde Bombardini & Giovanni Gallipoli & German Pupato, 2012. "Skill Dispersion and Trade Flows," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(5), pages 2327-2348, August.
    12. Costinot, Arnaud, 2009. "On the origins of comparative advantage," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(2), pages 255-264, April.
    13. James E. Anderson, 2008. "Gravity, Productivity and the Pattern of Production and Trade," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 700, Boston College Department of Economics.
    14. Amoroso, Nicolás & Chiquiar, Daniel & Ramos-Francia, Manuel, 2011. "Technology and endowments as determinants of comparative advantage: Evidence from Mexico," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 164-196, August.
    15. Shikher, Serge, 2011. "Capital, technology, and specialization in the neoclassical model," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 229-242, March.

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    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General

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