We estimate the extent to which firms responded to tariff reductions associated with China’s WTO entry by altering labor’s share of value. Firm-level regressions indicate that firms in industries subject to tariff cuts raised labor’s share relative to economy-wide trends, both through...

New economic geography models predict that costly transport and the spatial distribution of demand affect the profits firms can earn in different locations, leading to higher wages for workers employed in cities with better geographic access to markets. In light of the dramatic embrace of...

China’s WTO accession offers a rare opportunity to observe multinationals’ response to changes in property rights in a developing country. WTO accession reduced incentives for joint ventures while reducing constraints on wholly owned foreign subsidiaries. Concomitant with these changes was a...

Using China's Annual Survey of Industrial Production, we estimate the marginal revenue product of labor (MRPL) for all state-owned and above-scale non-state manufacturing firms for 2001--2004 and 2004--2007. We find that labor productivity varies systematically within industries by ownership...

The availability of international trade transactions data capturing individual relationships between buyers and suppliers permits the answering of numerous new questions governing the economic activity of traders. In this paper, we explore the reliability of two-sided firm trade transactions...

Using confidential U.S. customs data on trade transactions between U.S. importers and Bangladeshi exporters between 2002 and 2009, and information on the geographic location of Bangladeshi exporters, we show that the presence of neighboring exporters that previously transacted with a U.S....

“Factoryless” manufacturers, as defined by the U.S. OMB, perform underlying entrepreneurial components of arranging the factors of production but outsource all of the actual transformation activities to other specialized units. This paper describes efforts to measure “factoryless”...

Using confidential U.S. customs data on trade transactions between U.S. importers and Bangladeshi exporters between 2002 and 2009, and information on the geographic location of Bangladeshi exporters, we show that the presence of neighboring exporters that previously transacted with a U.S....

type="main" <title type="main">ABSTRACT</title> <p>The clustering of economic activity is believed to generate both positive own-industry (localization) spillovers and negative competitive pressures. Using data on manufacturing enterprises operating in China during 1998–2006, this paper provides evidence on the net effect...</p>