Intra-good trade in Germany: A first look at the evidence
Research output: Working paper › Working papers
Authors
This  paper  contributes  to  the  literature  by  using  newly  released  comprehensive  transaction level data on all exports and imports to document facts about the amount of intra-good trade – the simultaneous export and import of identical goods by one firm - in Germany. Combined data for trade transactions and for characteristics of a representative large sample of trading 
firms are then used to report differences between firms that export and import different goods only  (inter-good  traders)  and  firms  that  engage  in  the  simultaneous  export and  import  of identical  goods  (intra-good traders
). We  find  that  the  share  of  intra-good  trade  in  total  trade was some 17 percent in Germany in 2012. Intra-good trade matters. This share differs widely between  broadly  defined  groups  of  goods  and  between  industries.  Controlling  for  detailed industry  affiliation  intra-good  traders  differ  sign
ificantly  from  inter-good  traders  –  they  are larger, more human capital intensive, more productive, have a higher R&D intensity, and are more  profitable.  The  data,  however,  are  not  rich  enough  to  reveal  the  direction  of  causality between  intra-good  trade  and  firm  performance  and  to  investigate  empirically  the  reasons why some firms engage in intra-good trade. 
| Original language | English | 
|---|---|
| Place of Publication | Lüneburg | 
| Publisher | Leuphana Universität Lüneburg | 
| Number of pages | 22 | 
| Publication status | Published - 08.2016 | 
- Economics - intra-product trade, two-way trade, imports, exports, Germany
 
