Do Endowments Predict the Location of Production? Evidence from National and International Data / Jeffrey R. Bernstein, David E. Weinstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bernstein, Jeffrey R.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Weinstein, David E.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w6815.

NBER working paper series no. w6815

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1998.

Summary:

Examining the relationship between factor endowments and production patterns using international and Japanese regional data, we provide the first empirical confirmation of Ethier's correlation approach to the Rybczynski theorem. Moreover, we find evidence of substantial production indeterminacy. Prediction errors are six to thirty times larger for goods traded relatively freely. A compelling explanation of this phenomenon is the existence of more goods than factors in the presence of trade costs. This result implies that regressions of trade or output on endowments have weak theoretical foundations. Furthermore, since errors are largest in data sets where trade costs are small, we explain why the common methodology of imputing trade barriers from regression residuals often leads to backwards results.

Notes:

Print version record

November 1998.