The Lumpiness of German Exports and Imports of Goods
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Lüneburg: Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, 2016. (University of Lüneburg Working Paper Series in Economics; No. 359).
Research output: Working paper › Working papers
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TY - UNPB
T1 - The Lumpiness of German Exports and Imports of Goods
AU - Wagner, Joachim
PY - 2016/4/29
Y1 - 2016/4/29
N2 - This paper looks at a hitherto neglected extensive margin of international trade by investigating for the first time the frequency at which German exporters and importers trade a given good with a given country. Imports and exports show a high degree of lumpiness. In a given year about half of all firm-good-country combinations are recorded only once or twice for trade with EU-countries, and this is the case for more than 60 percent of all firm-good-country combinations in trade with non-EU countries. The frequency of recorded transactions tends to decline with an increase in the number of transactions per year. This is in accordance with the presence of per-shipment fixed costs that provide an incentive for trading firms to engage in cross-border transactions infrequently. Empirical models show that for Germany the frequency of transactions at the firm-good-country level tends to decrease with an increase in per-shipment costs when unobserved firm and goods characteristics are controlled for.
AB - This paper looks at a hitherto neglected extensive margin of international trade by investigating for the first time the frequency at which German exporters and importers trade a given good with a given country. Imports and exports show a high degree of lumpiness. In a given year about half of all firm-good-country combinations are recorded only once or twice for trade with EU-countries, and this is the case for more than 60 percent of all firm-good-country combinations in trade with non-EU countries. The frequency of recorded transactions tends to decline with an increase in the number of transactions per year. This is in accordance with the presence of per-shipment fixed costs that provide an incentive for trading firms to engage in cross-border transactions infrequently. Empirical models show that for Germany the frequency of transactions at the firm-good-country level tends to decrease with an increase in per-shipment costs when unobserved firm and goods characteristics are controlled for.
KW - Economics
M3 - Working papers
T3 - University of Lüneburg Working Paper Series in Economics
BT - The Lumpiness of German Exports and Imports of Goods
PB - Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
CY - Lüneburg
ER -