High-End Variety Exporters Defying Distance: Micro Facts and Macroeconomic Implications
High-End Variety Exporters Defying Distance: Micro Facts and Macroeconomic Implications Julien MARTIN Florian MAYNERIS Université du Québec à Université Catholique Montréal de Louvain October 2013 G-MonD Working Paper n°35 For sustainable and inclusive world development High-End Variety Exporters Defying Distance: Micro Facts and Macroeconomic Implications∗ Julien Martiny Florian Maynerisz December 2013 Abstract We develop a new methodology to identify high-end variety exporters in French firm- level data. We show that they do not export to many more countries, but they export to more distant ones. This comes with a greater geographic diversification of their aggregate exports. In contrast to low-end export(er)s, we find that distance has almost no effect on high-end variety export(er)s. We also show that high-end export(er)s are more sensitive to the average income of the destination country. Because of this different sensitivity to gravity variables at the micro-level, specializing in the production of high-end varieties has two macroeconomic implications for countries. First, the sources of a country's aggregate exports volatility are modified. The higher sensitivity to per capita income increases the sensitivity of high-end variety exports to destination-specific demand shocks, and thus their volatility on a given market. However, their lower sensitivity to distance allows for a greater geographic diversification of their exports, which in turn reduces aggregate volatility through a portfolio effect. Second, the lower sensitivity to distance allows high- end varieties to benefit more from demand growth, especially when it arises in distant markets. JEL classification: F14, F43, L15, Keywords: Vertical differentiation, Gravity, Distance, Volatility ∗We thank Nicolas Berman, Andrew Bernard, Lionel Fontagn´e,Jean Imbs, S´ebastienJean, H´el`eneLatzer, Thierry Mayer, Isabelle M´ejean,Mathieu Parenti, Val´erieSmeets, Jacques Thisse and Fr´ed´ericWarzynski for useful discussions.
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