The Analytics of Export Promotion Policies Designed to Reduce Search Costs

Abstract This study examines the economic effects of export subsidy policy in an environment where exporters must expend resources to find foreign consumers. Within a sequential search model we find that export promotion policies specifically designed to lower an exporter's search costs (e.g., government-sponsored trade missions) have very different effects than non-targeted subsidies. For example, subsidies that lower search costs induce exporters to increase their price. However, this result is sensitive to model specification and may even be reversed when the analysis allows for foreign competition

Optimal trade policy in the presence of changing market structure

This study examines the optimal use of tariff policy in response to a change in both the number and market behavior of domestic firms. The paper demonstrates that under certain demand conditions, optimal trade policy may require an increase in tariffs in response to an increase in consolidation or collusion among domestic firms. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1993optimal tariff, collusion, market consolidation, imperfect competition,

Exports and the Structure of Immigrant-Based Networks: The Role of Geographic Proximity

This study empirically investigates the structure of immigrant based networks, both internationally and intranationally within the United States and how they affect U.S. export volume. Specifically, we examine the relationship between state populations of immigrant groups and the volume of state exports to the home country of the immigrant group. We compare the estimated effects of local immigrant populations on state exports to the effects of out-of-state populations of the same immigrant group and find the former effect to be greater than the latter. In addition, we find that the network effects are greatest for newer immigrant groups. © 2005 President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.