This paper investigates two explanations for why industries might become more productive over time. The first explanation, termed the real productivity case,' is one in which firms become more productive and this leads to more productive industries. The second explanation, termed the...

Using confidential microdata from the US Census, we find that the fraction of manufacturing plants that export rose from 21% in 1987 to 39% in 2006. It has been suggested that similar trends in other countries may have been caused by declining costs of entering foreign markets. Our study tests...

We develop a model of international trade with two dimensions of firm heterogeneity and export quality constraints that manifest as higher variable trade costs for lower quality firms. In addition to "productivity", firms are also heterogeneous in their "caliber" -- the ability to develop...

This paper investigates the welfare gains from European trade integration, and the role of comparative advantage in determining the magnitude of those gains. We use a multi-sector Ricardian model implemented on 79 countries, and compare welfare in the 2000s to a counterfactual scenario in which...

Empirical studies show that tradable consumption goods are more expensive in rich countries. This paper proposes a simple yet novel explanation for this apparent failure of the law of one price: Consumers' utility from tradable goods depends on their consumption of complementary goods and...

We construct a new linked data set with over one thousand offshoring events by matching Trade Adjustment Assistance program petition data to micro-data from the U.S. Census Bureau. We exploit this data to assess how offshoring impacts domestic firm-level aggregate employment, output, wages and...

This book serves two purposes. It provides a straightforward exposition of the complex issues pertaining to the WTO agreements and negotiations, and it presents rigorous analyses of the impact of the WTO-induced reforms on the Indian economy. The book addresses a number of salient issues,...

Gary R Saxonhouse was one of the leading world scholars on Japanese economy. Born in New York City in 1943, he attended Yale University, where he received his PhD in Economics in 1971. He joined the Faculty of Economics at the University of Michigan beginning in 1970, where he taught throughout...

The initial motivation for this paper was to consider whether international labor standards should be incorporated into the rules and mandate of the WTO.

The overall impression that emerges from the GATT review is that Japan has been struggling sonce 1991 in response to the collapse of its domestic asset markets, the onset of economic slowdown and recession, and a very sizable nominal and real appreciation of the yen.