Many trade models of monopolistic competition identify cost efficiency as the main determinant of firm performance in export markets. To date, the analysis of demand factors has received much less attention. We propose a new model where consumer preferences are asymmetric across varieties and...

This paper studies the market and welfare effects of income heterogeneity in monopolistically competitive product markets in the context of nonhomothetic preferences. In a closed economy, where richer individuals' expenditures are less sensitive to price change compared to poorer ones', a...

The recent availability of trade data at a firm-product-country level calls for a new generation of models able to exploit the large variability detected across observations. By developing a model of monopolistic competition in which varieties enter preferences non-symmetrically, we show how...

The paper analyses how a tractable representation of productivity heterogeneity among firms modifies the standard Dixit-Stiglitz (DS) model of monopolistic competition. The properties of the asymmetric model are explored by comparative statics analysis. The equilibrium adjustments of industry...

We propose a general model of monopolistic competition, which encompasses existing models while being flexible enough to take into account new demand and competition features. Using the concept of Frechet differentiability, we determine a general demand system. The basic tool we use to study the...

We characterize the equilibrium and optimal resource allocations in a general equilibrium model of monopolistic competition with multiple asymmetric sectors and heterogeneous firms. We first derive general results for additively separable preferences and general productivity distributions, and...

We develop a product-differentiated model where the product space is a network defined as a set of varieties (nodes) linked by their degrees of substitutability (edges). We also locate consumers into this network, so that the location of each consumer (node) corresponds to her “ideal”...

Excess capacity is viewed as a distinctive feature and an essential inefficiency of monopolistic competition as the large-group case of imperfect competition. Using a simple geometrical approach and studying the demand and cost curves faced by the individual firm, we find that there is little...

The paper develops a two-country monopolistic competition model of trade featuring country-specific consumer tastes. The accounting for heterogeneity in tastes is achieved by assuming different elasticities of substitution in the CES utility function for different country consumers. The proposed...