This paper investigates the relation between firms' productivity and exporting behavior in presence of export intermediaries. Using a cross section of firm-level data for several advanced and developing economies, the study confirms the productivity-sorting prediction according to which domestic...

This paper aims at investigating the evolution of the employment and wage structure of Italian manufacturing firms in the early 2000s. The work analyzes whether skills and wage movements have been taken place between or within sectors, and within sector, between or within firms. We show that...

We introduce search and matching unemployment into a model of trade with differentiated goods and heterogeneous firms. Countries may differ with respect to size, geographical location, and labor market institutions. Contrary to the literature, our single-sector perspective pays special attention...

Starting from the premise that productivity is heterogeneous across firms, Melitz (2003) explains why individual productivity is key in determining the capability of a firm to export. In this paper we build a model along Melitz's lines to show that also financial capacity, captured by the level...

Theoretical and empirical work on export dynamics has generally assumed constant marginal production cost and therefore ignored domestic product market conditions. However, recent studies have documented a negative correlation between firms' domestic and export sales growth, suggesting that...

In the two-country Melitz (2003) model, unilateral trade liberalization is often cast as a reduction of iceberg transportation costs and wages are determined by a linear outside sector. We show that welfare results reverse when wages adjust and trade frictions are revenue-generating tariffs.

Activists denouncing firms for what they consider unethical conduct (e.g., poor treatment of labor or practices that are harmful to the environment) often pressure firms through consumer boycotts. This paper presents a model of international trade with heterogeneous firms and endogenous...