Antidumping protection and markups of domestic firms

This paper tests whether Antidumping (AD) protection affects the market power of import-competing domestic firms. We use panel data of about 4000 EU producers that were involved in AD cases to estimate markups before and after the filing of a case. Our findings indicate that AD protection has positive and significant effects on domestic markups, except in cases where import diversion after protection is strong, like in ‘seamless steel tubes’. Our results control for potential endogeneity of AD filings. A randomly drawn control group of firms not subject to AD policy did not have rising markups during the same period.     

Disorganization in the process of transition Firm-level evidence from Ukraine

Most post-communist economies are characterized by an initial collapse in aggregate output. Blanchard and Kremer (1997) and Roland and Verdier (1997) have recently modelled supply-side distortions – disorganization in the links of production – that can lead to a short-term output contraction after market liberalization and a recovery thereafter. This paper is the first to illustrate and test the effects of disorganization in the transition process by using a unique dataset of 300 Ukrainian firms. Our results show that for firms that existed under central planning, disorganization constrains employment and productivity growth during the transition process to a market economy. We also show that the effects of disorganization are greater the more out-dated the capital stock inheritance from the planning system. In contrast, disorganization plays no role in the determination of employment and productivity growth in newly established private firms.
JEL classification: P0, O0, D0.     

Rural Poverty Dynamics and Impact of Intervention Programs upon Chronic and Transitory Poverty in Northern Ethiopia*

Abstract: Using a three‐year panel data set of rural households in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, we examine the dynamics of poverty and the impact of two intervention measures—the food for work (FFW) and the food security package (FSP) programs—upon poverty by disaggregating total poverty into its transient and chronic components. Poverty in the region is predominantly chronic. Results of matching estimators indicate that the FSP program has a significant negative effect on total and chronic poverty, but not on transient poverty. Households involved in the program have on average lower levels of total and chronic poverty than households not involved in the program. The FFW on the other hand does not significantly influence any of the three forms of poverty. Tertile regressions, however, reveal that the FFW benefits households in the richest and the middle tertiles.     

The impact of foldable containers on container fleet management costs in hinterland transport

This paper analyzes the possibility to save container fleet management costs in repositioning empty containers through the use of foldable containers. We model this entire empty container flow as an integer programming problem with different strategies in empty container flow itinerary. The model is used to carry out numerical experiments that optimize the empty container repositioning in the hinterland, where there are serious empty container repositioning problems caused by extremely imbalanced trades. The study finds that foldable containers can substantially save on repositioning costs compared to the use of standard containers.     

Pass-on trade: why do firms simultaneously engage in two-way trade in the same varieties?

This paper documents that a large fraction of trade flows at the firm level consists of simultaneous imports and exports in identical products, narrowly defined at the 8-digit product classification, which we call pass-on trade (POT). We use data on imports and exports at the firm and product level for Slovenian manufacturing firms in the period 1994–2008, to show that, on average, 70 % of all exporting firms engage in POT. This corresponds to more than 50 % of all exported products. Thus, imported products that are exported again by the same firm is a statistical regularity of trade of Slovenian manufacturing firms. We document that the use of POT is increasing in firm size, product diversification, multinational status as well as firm productivity and profitability. We offer and explore empirically a number of explanations for POT. Among possible explanations, we find evidence on the importance of firms’ multinational networks and demand complementarities between firms’ own and POT products. The latter confirms the theoretical explanations for carry-along trade (CAT) as developed by the recent work of Bernard et al. (2012).