This paper studies the extensive and intensive margins of firms' global sourcing decisions. We develop a quantifiable multi-country sourcing model in which heterogeneous firms self-select into importing based on their productivity and country-specific variables. The model delivers a simple...

Firms’ decisions about which goods to produce are often made at a more disaggregate level than the data observed by empirical researchers. When products differ according to production technique or the way in which they enter demand, this data aggregation problem introduces a bias into standard...

We estimate a structural model of heterogeneous multiproduct firms to examine the sources of firm heterogeneity emphasized in the recent trade and macro literatures. Using Nielsen barcode data on prices and sales, we estimate elasticities of substitution within and between firms, and use the...

This paper examines the longevity of entrants. We find size to be an important determinant of the chances of survival, this being particularly relevant to de novo entrants as compared to entry by established firms. Current size is also found to be a better predictor of failure than initial size....

This Paper develops a model of endogenous product selection by firms. The theory is motivated by new evidence we present on the importance of product switching by US manufacturers. Two-thirds of continuing firms change their product mix every five years, and product switches involve more than...

A growing body of literature shows that geographic location plays an important role in influencing economic phenomena. Despite the renewed interest in economic geography, the existing literature on the firm size distribution (FSD) has ignored the impact of geographic location. A wave of recent...