High-End Variety Exporters Defying Distance: Micro Facts and Macroeconomic Implications
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High-End Variety Exporters Defying Distance: Micro Facts and Macroeconomic Implications J. Martin and F. Mayneris Discussion Paper 2013-27 High-End Variety Exporters Defying Distance: Micro Facts and Macroeconomic Implications∗ Julien Martiny Florian Maynerisz October 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. These facts are explained by a lower sensitivity to distance of 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, the within-product specialization of a country in the production of high-end varieties is likely to affect its export growth and volatility. We show that a higher sensitivity to per capita income tends to increase the volatility of high-end variety exports. However, a lower sensitivity to distance reduces volatility through a greater geographic diversification. Furthermore, we point out that a lower sensitivity to distance allows high-end varieties to benefit more from growth in more distant markets. JEL classification: F14, F43, L15, Keywords: Gravity, Distance, Firm-level data, Growth, Volatility ∗We thank Andrew Bernard, Lionel Fontagn´e,Jean Imbs, S´ebastienJean, Thierry Mayer, Mathieu Par- enti, Val´erieSmeets, Jacques Thisse and Fr´ed´ericWarzynski for useful discussions. We also thank confer- ence and seminar participants of the ETSG conference (Leuven), the Higher School of Economics (Saint- Petersburg), Erasmus University (Rotterdam), Universit´ecatholique de Louvain, IMF (Washington DC), CEPII (Paris), Midwest international economics conference (East Lansing), Danish international economics workshop (Aarhus), the Belgian trade economists workshop (Antwerp), Howard University (Washington DC) and the International Trade workshop (Georges Washington University, DC) for useful comments. This paper has benefited from the financial support of the group \Mondialisation et D´eveloppement" (GMonD) from the Paris School of Economics (PSE), and of the Belgian French-speaking Community (Convention ARC 09/14- 019 on \Geographical mobility of factors"). Julien Martin is thankful for financial support to the FSR Marie Curie fellowship. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and should not be attributed to GMonD or its financial partners. yDepartment of Economics, Universit´edu Qu´ebec `aMontr´[email protected] zCORE, Universit´ecatholique de Louvain, IRES, CORE. fl[email protected] 1 Introduction Developed countries are specializing, within products, in the production of high-end varieties (the most expensive varieties of a product).1 Both academics and policy makers encourage this trend, with the view that it is likely to insulate developed countries from the competition from low-wage countries.2. While the specialization of developed countries in high-end varieties is increasingly documented (Schott, 2004; Fontagn´e,Gaulier, and Zignago, 2008; Martin and M´ejean, 2011), its implications are not.3 In this paper, we develop a new methodology to identify high-end variety exporters in French firm-level data. We study the specific features of high-end variety exports, and the macroeconomic implications of a specialization in the production of high-end varieties. We compare the characteristics of high- and low-end variety exporters and document that, along many dimensions, they are not so different (number of destinations, number of products, productivity). Hence, specializing in high-end varieties is not likely to change the anatomy of our economies in terms of firm-level size and TFP distributions. Actually, as for low-end variety exporters, the data show the coexistence among high-end variety firms of many small niche firms and a few large multinational groups. A key difference between high- and low-end varieties is the geography of their exports. Conditional on the number of countries they serve, high-end variety exporters are more likely to ship goods to more distant markets. This goes together with a wider geographic diver- sification of aggregate exports, which are significantly less concentrated toward European countries.4 To understand the roots of this peculiar geography, we investigate the differences in the sensitivity of high- and low-end variety exports to gravity variables both at the firm and at the product level. High-end variety trade flows are one third more sensitive to the per capita income of the destination country. They are also ten times less sensitive to distance. This lower sensitivity to distance explains the greater geographic diversification of exports entirely. Based on these new results, we examine how specializing in this type of production affects the volatility and growth of trade flows. We find that the higher sensitivity of high-end variety exports to per capita income tends to increase their volatility within a market relatively to low-end variety exports. By contrast, their lower sensitivity to distance induces a greater geographic diversification, which smoothes the aggregate volatility of their sales. Between 2000 and 2006, the two effects counterbalanced each other, and the aggregate volatility of 1High prices might be the consequence of a greater sophistication, quality, reputation, brand etc. 2For instance, Peter Schott states that \vertical specialization within product markets can also help insulate workers in developed countries from the low wages of workers in developing economies.". The EU commission shares the same point of view: \Europe needs to develop and consolidate areas of comparative advantage in high value and high-tech design and production" 3Regarding its implications, only the direct effect on the labor market has been studied (e.g. Verhoogen, 2008; Mion and Zhu, 2011). 4More than 70 percent of low-end variety exports are concentrated toward European countries. By contrast, less than 50 percent of high-end variety exports are directed to Europe. 1 high- and low-end variety exports was the same. What is more, we show that the lower sensitivity of high-end varieties to distance allowed them to reshuffle their sales toward fast- growing countries, in particular toward Eastern Asia after 2005. High-end variety exporters were thus better able to reap the gains from globalization. Our contribution to the literature is twofold. First, we show that a crucial difference between high- and low-end variety exporters is not their size or their productivity, but the geography of their exports. In this paper, we focus on high-end variety exporters, i.e. firms which produce high-priced varieties and still meet an important demand abroad, due to the quality, the image and more generally the appeal of their products. A few papers have already looked at the characteristics of high-quality exporters, emphasizing their bigger size, scope and/or productivity (Crozet, Head, and Mayer, 2012; Gervais, 2013). However, the geography of their exports has not been emphasized. The second contribution of this paper is to analyze some macroeconomic consequences of the specialization of developed countries in high-end varieties. By doing this, we provide new insights into why the types of varieties produced by a country matters, and we show how macroeconomic outcomes are partly shaped by the microstructure of an economy. To our knowledge, we are the first to consider the macro implications of this specialization in high-end varieties for the growth and volatility of countries.5 A key challenge for our analysis is to identify high- and low-end variety exporters within product categories. We build a new data set based on firm-level export data for the 2000-2011 period. We identify high-end variety exporters as follows. First, we use the list of members of the Comit´eColbert, an organization composed of the main brands of the French luxury industry.6 There are 76 members, including brands as famous and expensive as Baccarat, Cartier, Champagne Bollinger, Chanel, Christian Dior, Herm`es,Louis Vuitton or Yves Saint- Laurent. We merge this list with firm-level French customs data. We then use Colbert firms as a benchmark and define as high-end variety exporters French firms that export the same product categories and charge a unit value (we interchangeably use the words price and unit value) at least as high as the one charged by the members of the Comit´eColbert. We show that the high-end variety exporters we identify sell high-priced varieties in the same quantity as low-end variety exporters, confirming the specific appeal of their products for consumers.7 The use of the prices set by Colbert firms is crucial. Indeed, the price threshold above which a firm can be said to sell high-end varieties depends on consumer preferences and on the composition of the industry in terms of variety type. It is thus likely to vary from one product to the other. Our method allows us to ground the level of this price threshold and 5Kraay and Ventura(2001) argue that developed countries specialize in countries with inelastic product demands , which affects their volatility. 6The Comit´eColbert organizes shows and exhibitions and develops lobbying activities for the luxury in- dustry. See http://www.comitecolbert.com/. 7We compared our data set with the exogenous rating of champagnes used in Crozet, Head, and Mayer (2012). We found that most of the top-quality producers in their data set were identified as high-end producers of champagne in ours. 2 to make it product specific. Hence, while most papers on trade in vertically differentiated varieties focus on one specific product/industry or apply a “one-size-fits-all” threshold to identify top quality varieties in all sectors/products, we propose a product-specific measure for a wide range of final products (around 200 products). We are not the only one to use information from the Comit´eColbert to study high-end variety exports.