On the Pervasiveness of Home Market Effects

Abstract

Krugman's model of trade between two countries of unequal size predicts that the country with the relatively large number of consumers is the net exporter and host of a disproportionate share of firms in the differentiated good sector. He terms these results home market effects. This paper analyzes two models that offer alternatives to Krugman's assumptions of Dixit-Stiglitz monopolistic competition with iceberg transport costs. Using a framework of location choice, we generate strikingly similar results for the three models. The common ingredients of these imperfect competition models are trade costs and increasing returns to scale.