Market access, economic geography and comparative advantage: an empirical test

Traditional neoclassical models of comparative advantage suggest that, all else equal, a country with idiosyncratically strong demand for a good will be an importer of that good. However, there is a contrary tradition that emphasizes the advantages of a large home market as a foundation for exports of a good. One recent formalization of this home market approach falls within what is termed the new economic geography. This paper integrates core models of Heckscher-Ohlin and Krugman [American Economic Review 70 (1980) 950] to investigate whether such home market effects matter empirically in manufacturing for a set of OECD countries. The evidence suggests that home market effects are important for a broad segment of OECD manufacturing.