In the last decade, a large portion of capital goods imports of Sub-Saharan African countries is telecommunications equipment, and China is now the main source of equipment for 30 Sub-Saharan African countries. A connection between specific types of equipment imports and subsequent exports is...

In 2005 China provided duty-free access to 190 items from 25 least developed sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Three years later duty-free access was extended to 454 items from 31 SSA LDCs. We find no evidence that China's preferential market access program for the least developed sub-Saharan...

In 2005 China provided duty-free access to 190 items from 25 least developed sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Three years later duty-free access was extended to 454 items from 31 SSA LDCs. We find no evidence that China's preferential market access program for the least developed sub-Saharan...

This paper examines the interdependencies between direct mode and indirect mode exporters and their effect on the intensive margins of both groups of firms. We do so by first developing an oligopolistic model of trade in which both types of exporters co-exist. We then use firm-level data from a...

We investigate theoretically and empirically how exporters adjust their markups across destinations depending on bilateral distance, tariffs, and the quality of their exports. Under the assumption that trade costs are both ad valorem and per unit, our model predicts that markups rise with...

With the deepening of global specialization division of labor, China should shift from attaching importance to the scale of exports to attaching importance to the upgrading of export product quality. A reasonable and orderly polycentric network breaks the market barriers between regions and...

This paper examines the impact of capital imports on firms’ export quality upgrading with a subsidy policy for advanced capital imports implemented in China since 2008. Using a matched dataset of firms’ production and custom databases, we employ a DiD strategy that exploits firms’...

Mexico experienced a tremendous expansion of its export-processing maquila sector during the 1990s. At the same time, a large proportion of its labor force remains employed in the informal sector. Since one of the main objectives of the maquiladora program was to increase formal employment, we...

This working paper introduces the concept of bilateral asymmetries in international merchandise trade statistics (IMTS), i.e. the discrepancies that can be seen in reported bilateral trade flows between trading partners. Such discrepancies mean that the value of exports reported by one country...

The paper offers a novel explanation for China's manufacturing exports performance after WTO entry. Building on stylized facts about low-wage country exporters, a theoretical model is developed to analyze reduced trade policy uncertainty. A global (non-destination specific) component of...