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Discussion Paper
Global trade patterns in the wake of the 2018-2019 U.S.-China tariff hikes
In 2018, the U.S. government announced bilateral tariff increases on a number of Chinese goods. Thus began a tit-for-tat exchange of increasing bilateral tariffs between the U.S. and China until, by the end of 2019, most of the goods traded between the U.S. and China were subject to additional tariffs. In this note, we use Census and UN Comtrade data to study the effects of the 2018-19 U.S.-China tariff hikes on global trade patterns.
Working Paper
Forward Looking Exporters
This paper studies the role of expectations in driving export adjustment. We assemble bilateral data on spot exchange rates, one year ahead exchange rate forecasts and HS2-product export data for 11 exporting countries and 64 destinations, covering the 2006–2014 period. Results from fixed effects regressions and an instrumental variables approach show that expectations of exchange rate changes are an important channel for export adjustment. A one percent expected exchange rate depreciation over the next year is associated with a 0.96 percent increase in the extensive margin (entry of new ...
Working Paper
Trade Policy is Real News: Theory and Evidence
We evaluate the aggregate effects of changes in trade barriers when these changes can be implemented slowly over time and trade responds gradually to changes in trade barriers because firm-level trade costs make exporting a dynamic decision. Our model shows how expectations of changes in trade barriers affect the economy. We find that while decreases in trade barriers increase economic activity, expectations of lower future trade barriers temporarily decrease investment, hours worked, and output. Further- more, canceling an expected decline in future trade barriers raises investment and ...
Working Paper
Technology, Geography, and Trade over Time: The Dynamic Effects of Changing Trade Policy
I study the dynamic effects of changes in trade policy in a multi-country model with firms that make durable and destination-specific investments in exporting capacity. Using Mexican exporter-level data, I show that incumbent exporters to minor trade partners account for a smaller share of bilateral exports than do incumbent exporters to major trade partners, indicating a systematic difference in the persistence of the export decision across destinations. The model is calibrated to capture the positive relationship between exporting persistence and export volume, and predicts that trade ...
Discussion Paper
Forward Looking Exporters
Economic textbooks outline a simple relationship between movements in a country’s exchange rate and its export volumes. When the exporter’s currency depreciates, export volumes are expected to increase due to competitiveness gains in foreign markets.
Working Paper
Common Trade Exposure and Business Cycle Comovement
A large empirical literature has shown that countries that trade more with each other have more correlated business cycles. We show that previous estimates of this relationship are biased upward because they ignore common trade exposure to other countries. When we account for common trade exposure to foreign business cycles, we find that (1) the effect of bilateral trade on business cycle comovement falls by roughly 25 percent and (2) common exposure is a significant driver of business cycle comovement. A standard international real business cycle model is qualitatively consistent with these ...