آزمون تئوری های تجارت هنگامی که هزینه های خانه جانبدارانه است.

We develop a criterion to distinguish two dominant paradigms of international trade theory: homogeneous-goods perfectly competitive models, and differentiated-goods monopolistically competitive models. Our analysis makes use of the pervasive presence of home-biased expenditure. It predicts that countries’ relative output and their relative home biases are positively correlated in differentiated-goods sectors (the “home-bias effect”), while no such relationship exists in homogeneous-goods sectors. This discriminating criterion turns out to be robust to a number of generalisations of the baseline model. Our empirical results, based on a world-wide cross-country data set, suggest that the differentiated-goods model fits particularly well for the machinery, precision engineering and transport equipment industries, which account for some 40% of sample manufacturing output.

International trade theory is dominated by two major paradigms. One paradigm belongs to the neoclassical world with homogeneous goods and perfectly competitive product markets (PC). The second paradigm, frequently referred to as the “new trade theory”, rests on the assumption of differentiated goods and monopolistically competitive markets (MC). While other important models exist, which combine features of both paradigms, much of the theoretical and empirical literature has concentrated on these two benchmark cases. We develop a discriminating criterion that is amenable to empirical estimation. The criterion rests on the assumption that demand is home biased, in the sense that some buyers perceive home-produced goods ipso facto to be different from imports. It posits that the home bias influences international specialisation in sectors that are characterised by product differentiation associated with monopolistic competition and increasing returns (MC), while such bias is inconsequential for the location of sectors characterised by homogeneous goods associated with perfect competition and constant returns (PC). We find this discriminating criterion to be robust to a number of generalisations of the baseline model, including imperfectly elastic sectoral factor supplies and multiple non-equidistant countries.

We develop and apply an empirical test to distinguish two paradigms of international trade theory: a model featuring homogeneous products and perfect competition (PC), and a model featuring differentiated products and monopolistic competition (MC). The discriminating criterion makes use of the assumption that demand is home biased, an assumption that is well supported in the empirical literature. We show theoretically that specialisation patterns are affected by inter-country differences in the degree of home bias if an industry conforms to the MC paradigm, but not if it is characterised by PC. This result provides us with a discriminating criterion that we show to be robust to a number of theoretical generalisations, including imperfectly elastic sectoral factor supply and multiple non-equidistant countries.