INTRA-FIRM TRADE AND PRODUCT CONTRACTIBILITY (LONG VERSION)

This paper examines the determinants of intra-firm trade in U.S. imports using detailed country-productdata. We create a new measure of product contractibility based on the degree of intermediation in internationaltrade for the product. We find important roles for the interaction of country and product characteristicsin determining intra-firm trade shares. Intra-firm trade is high for products with low levels of contractabilitysourced from countries with weak governance, for skill-intensive products from skill-scarce countries,and for capital-intensive products from capital-abundant countries....