Buyer-Seller Relationships in International Trade: Do Your Neighbors Matter?
October 2014
Working Paper Number:
CES-14-44
Abstract
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. importer is associated with a greater likelihood of matching with the same U.S. importer for the first time. This suggests a role for business networks among trading firms in generating exporter-importer matches. Our research design also allows us to isolate potential gains from neighborhood exporter presence that are partner-specific, from overall gains previously documented in the literature.
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:
market,
foreign trade,
import,
export,
subsidiary,
shipment,
exporting,
exporter,
immigrant,
importing,
foreign,
multinational,
wholesale,
firms exporting,
firms export,
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buyer,
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Review of Economics and Statistics,
American Economic Review,
University of Chicago,
Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies,
Longitudinal Business Database,
World Bank,
Journal of International Economics,
IZA,
Harmonized System,
University of Michigan,
Longitudinal Firm Trade Transactions Database,
World Trade Organization,
Customs and Border Protection,
Michigan Institute for Data Science
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