Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
10476998 | Journal of International Economics | 2014 | 13 Pages |
Abstract
We study how competition from low-wage countries in international markets affects the quality content of high-wage country exports. We focus on aggregate quality changes driven by a reallocation of sales from low- to high-quality exporters, within industries. Two alternative indicators are used on firm-level data to measure quality changes. Both lead to similar conclusions. Namely, we show that the mean quality of French exports increased by 10-15% between 1995 and 2005. Quality improvement is significantly more pronounced in markets in which competition from low-wage countries has increased the most. This holds true for various specifications including two different identification strategies. The results are consistent with competition from low-wage countries leading developed countries to specialize within industries in the production of higher quality goods.
Related Topics
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Economics and Econometrics
Authors
Julien Martin, Isabelle Mejean,