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The seminar is part of the activities of FIW, the Centre of Competence in International Economics.
Series Details
Venue: wiiw
Monday, 3 May 2010, 4:00 pm
We examine the qualitative and quantitative predictions of a heterogeneous firm model à la Melitz (2003) in the context of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA) of 1989. We calibrate our model to the pre-trade liberalization stage, simulate the trade liberalization, and compute the resulting growth rates of Canadian industry productivity, exports and imports. We compare them with Trefler's (2004) estimates of the effects of CUSFTA. Our results show that our model performs well in replicating the qualitative aspects of Trefler's results. In particular, we correctly predict that US tariff cuts have smaller productivity enhancing effects than Canadian tariff reductions due to the entry of less efficient exporters. Quantitatively, the model tends to underpredict the impact of CUSFTA on growth rates of productivity, but overpredicts the increase in Canadian exports and imports. We discuss how liberalization-induced changes in the firm-level productivity distribution can reconcile the model with the evidence.
FIW-wiiw-Seminar in International Economics
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FIW-wiiw-Seminar in International Economics
Regular lecture series on current issues in international economics.The seminar is part of the activities of FIW, the Centre of Competence in International Economics.
Series Details
Alejandro Cunat, University of Vienna
Trade Liberalization and Heterogeneous Firm Models: An Evaluation Using the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement
Trade Liberalization and Heterogeneous Firm Models: An Evaluation Using the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement
Venue: wiiw
Monday, 3 May 2010, 4:00 pm
We examine the qualitative and quantitative predictions of a heterogeneous firm model à la Melitz (2003) in the context of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA) of 1989. We calibrate our model to the pre-trade liberalization stage, simulate the trade liberalization, and compute the resulting growth rates of Canadian industry productivity, exports and imports. We compare them with Trefler's (2004) estimates of the effects of CUSFTA. Our results show that our model performs well in replicating the qualitative aspects of Trefler's results. In particular, we correctly predict that US tariff cuts have smaller productivity enhancing effects than Canadian tariff reductions due to the entry of less efficient exporters. Quantitatively, the model tends to underpredict the impact of CUSFTA on growth rates of productivity, but overpredicts the increase in Canadian exports and imports. We discuss how liberalization-induced changes in the firm-level productivity distribution can reconcile the model with the evidence.
