The Determinants of U.S. Intra-Industry Trade
December 1990
Working Paper Number:
CES-90-13
Abstract
Responses from the Yale University survey of 650 research and development executives were linked to U.S. trade statistics at the four-digit SIC level for the years 1965-85 to test several hypotheses concerning intra-industry trade. A new index of intra-industry trade was developed to capture both the level and balance dimensions of import and export flows. Intra-industry trade is found to be more extensive, the higher industry R&D/sales ratios were, the more important economies of learning-by-doing were, and greater the relevance of academic engineering research was, and the more niche-filling strategies were emphasized in new product development. When firms oriented their R&D efforts toward meeting the specialized demands of individual customers, intra-industry trade was lower. The highest levels of intra-industry trade were found in loosely oligopolistic industries.
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market,
manufacturing,
industrial,
sale,
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technological,
commerce,
import,
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international trade,
research,
monopolistic,
tariff,
shipment,
oligopolistic,
strategic,
innovation,
oligopoly
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