Technology and Geography in the Second Industrial Revolution : New Evidence from the Margins of Trade
Michael Huberman, Christopher M. Meissner, Kim Oosterlinck
In the Belle Époque, Belgium recorded an unprecedented trade boom, but growth in output per capita was lackluster. We seek to reconcile this ostensible paradox. Because of the sharp decline in both fixed and variable trade costs, the trade boom was as much about the expansion in the number of products delivered and markets served as it was about shipping more of the same old products. We use a new highly disaggregated data set on bilateral exports at the product level to illustrate these claims. In line with new trade theory, the effect of trade on productivity was mediated by sector-level firm heterogeneity and product differentiation. In new technology sectors, like tramways, the high degree of firm heterogeneity amplified the effect of trade on productivity. But in other sectors, mainly old staple industries like cotton textiles, a high level of firm uniformity muted the effect of trade. Into the twentieth century, old staples trumped new technology sectors, per capita income growing modestly as a result
Year of publication: |
January 2015
|
---|---|
Authors: | Huberman, Michael |
Other Persons: | Meissner, Christopher M. (contributor) ; Oosterlinck, Kim (contributor) |
Institutions: | National Bureau of Economic Research (contributor) |
Publisher: |
Cambridge, Mass : National Bureau of Economic Research |
Subject: | Industrialisierung | Industrialization | Handelsgeschichte | History of trade | Internationale Wirtschaft | International economy | Belgien | Belgium | Schätzung | Estimation | Wirtschaftswachstum | Economic growth | Handelsspanne | Gross margin | Außenhandelsstruktur | International trade pattern | Produktdifferenzierung | Product differentiation | Produktivitätsentwicklung | Productivity change |
Saved in:
freely available
Extent: | 1 Online-Ressource |
---|---|
Series: | NBER working paper series ; no. w20851 |
Type of publication: | Book / Working Paper |
Language: | English |
Notes: | Mode of access: World Wide Web System requirements: Adobe [Acrobat] Reader required for PDF files Hardcopy version available to institutional subscribers. |
Other identifiers: | 10.3386/w20851 [DOI] |
Source: | ECONIS - Online Catalogue of the ZBW |
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012457815