Financial Choice in a Non-Ricardian Model of Trade

We join the new trade theory with a model of choice between bank and bond financing to show the differential effects of financial policy on the distribution of firm size, welfare, aggregate output, gains from trade, and the real exchange rate in a small open economy. Increasing bank efficiency and reducing bond transaction costs both increase welfare but have opposite effects on the extensive margin of trade, aggregate exports, and the real exchange rate. Increasing the degree of trade openness increases firms’ relative demand for bond versus bank financing. We identify a financial switching channel for gains from trade where increasing access to export markets allows firms to overcome high fixed costs of bond issuance to secure a lower marginal cost of capital.heterogeneity, bank, bond, firm finance, export real exchange rate

Financial choice in a non-Ricardian model of trade

We join the new trade theory with a model of choice between bank and bond financing to show the differential effects of financial policy on the distribution of firm size, welfare, aggregate output, gains from trade, and the real exchange rate in a small open economy. Increasing bank efficiency and reducing bond transaction costs both increase welfare but have opposite effects on the extensive margin of trade, aggregate exports, and the real exchange rate. Increasing the degree of trade openness increases firms' relative demand for bond versus bank financing. We identify a financial switching channel for gains from trade where increasing access to export markets allows firms to overcome high fixed costs of bond issuance to secure a lower marginal cost of capital.Trade ; Bank loans ; Bond market

A Theory of Banks, Bonds, and the Distribution of Firm Size

Does targeted financial development favor small firms or large ones? And how do resulting changes in the distribution of firm size affect aggregate outcomes? We assess the macroeconomic implications of known stylized facts from the finance literature regarding firm size and financial frictions for the real economy. In an era of intense policy debate over the role of market-based finance in the macroeconomy, we find that considering the entire distribution of firm size is key to accurately assess the effects of targeted financial policies on macroeconomic outcomes and firm behavior.heterogeneity, bank, bond, distribution of firm size

Understanding Markups in the Open Economy under Bertrand Competition

The purpose of this paper is to understand the effects of endogenous markups and trade costs on the pricing behavior of exporters when firms are heterogeneous in productivity. Using new analytical distributions for markups under Bertrand competition, we uncover Ricardian patterns of export pricing that generate higher markups and export price volatility when industrialized countries sell to developing countries. These Ricardian patterns dissipate when developing countries move from bilateral to multilateral trade liberalization. The results arise from a form of price rigidity for exports that arises endogenously due to cut-throat competition, even though prices are otherwise perfectly flexible.

A theory of banks, bonds, and the distribution of firm size

We draw on stylized facts from the finance literature to build a model where altering the relative costs of bank and bond financing changes the entire distribution of firm size, with implications for the aggregate capital stock, output, and welfare. Reducing transactions costs in the bond market increases the output and profits of mid-sized firms at the expense of both the largest and smallest firms. In contrast, reducing the frictions involved in bank lending promotes the expansion of the smallest firms while all other firms shrink, even as it increases the profitability of both small and mid-size firms. Although both policies increase aggregate output and welfare, they have opposite effects on the extensive margin of production-promoting bond issuance causes exit while cheaper bank credit induces entry. When reducing transactions costs in one market, the resulting increase in output and welfare are largest when transactions costs in the other market are very high.Bond market ; Bank loans

FDI in the Banking Sector

It is a well known quandry that when countries open their financial sectors, foreign-owned banks appear to bring superior efficiency to their host markets but also charge higher markups on borrowed funds than their domestically owned rivals, with unknown impacts on interest rates and welfare. Using heterogeneous, imperfectly competitive lenders, the model illustrates that FDI can cause markups (the net interest margins commonly used to proxy lending-to-deposit rate spreads) to increase at the same time efficiency gains and local competition keep the interest rates that banks charge borrowers from rising. Competition from arms-length foreign loans, however, both squeezes markups and lowers interest rates. We show that allowing foreign participation is not always a welfare-improving substitute for increasing competition and technical efficiency among domestic banks.multinational bank, heterogeneity, endogenous markup, foreign direct investment

Entry, Multinational Firms, and Exchange Rate Volatility

Recent discussions of exchange rate determination have emphasized the possible role of foreign direct investment in influencing exchange rate behavior. Yet, there are few existing models of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and endogenous exchange rates. This paper demonstrates that the entry decisions of MNEs can influence the volatility of the real exchange rate in countries were there are significant costs involved in maintaining production facilities, even when prices are perfectly flexible. For empirically plausible parameters, MNE activity can make the exchange rate much more volatile than relative consumption.exchange rate volatility, foreign direct investment, market entry

Teams of rivals: endogenous markups in a Ricardian world

We show that an ostensibly disparate set of stylized facts regarding firm pricing behavior can arise in a Ricardian model with Bertrand competition. Generalizing the Bernard, Eaton, Jenson, and Kortum (2003) model allows firms' markups over marginal cost to fall under trade liberalization, but increase with FDI, matching empirical studies in international trade. We are able to mesh this dichotomy with the existence of pricing-to-market and imperfect pass-through, as well as to capture stylized facts regarding the frequency and synchronization of price adjustment across markets. The result is a well specified distribution for markups that previously could only be seen numerically and a way to quantify endogenous pricing rigidities emerging from a market structure governed by fierce competition among rivals.Macroeconomics ; International trade ; Pricing

Exchange Rate Volatility and First-Time Entry by Multinational Firms

Using a model with upfront sunk costs, heterogeneous firms, and endogenous exchange rates, this paper demonstrates theoretically that volatility in fundamental variables such as the nominal interest rate that drive exchange rate volatility can simultaneously impact the entry behavior of multinational firms through a relative price channel unrelated to exchange rate risk. It then provides an empirical illustration of the bias this endogeneity can cause when regressing measures of foreign direct investment on exchange rate volatility. It is the first paper to provide empirical evidence that interest rate volatility may influence the behavior of multinational firms.