Parallel trade, product quality, and welfare

We study the welfare effects of parallel trade (PT) considering investment in quality. We thus revisit the case for allowing PT in research-intensive industries. We find that quality may be higher with than without PT, depending on how consumersÕ preferences for quality differ across countries. Conditional on quality, consumer surplus may rise in the source country, or fall in the destination country of PT. We find that PT reduces ex post welfare, and improving quality is a necessary (and sometimes sufficient) condition for PT to increase welfare ex ante.