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dc.titleConsumers and Firms in International Trade
dc.contributor.authorVolpe Martincus, Christian
dc.contributor.authorSztajerowska, Monika
dc.contributor.authorSanti, Mariana Belén
dc.contributor.orgunitProductivity, Trade and Innovation Sector
dc.contributor.orgunitTrade and Investment Division
dc.coveragePeru
dc.date.available2024-05-22T00:05:00
dc.date.issue2024-05-22T00:05:00
dc.description.abstractModern theoretical and empirical analyses in international trade typically focus on firms as the sole trading actors. This is consistent with the fact that firms have traditionally accounted for the vast majority of trade and, hence, examining their behavior allows for fully characterizing trade margins and assessing their determinants. Emerging and rapidly growing trade modalities such as cross-border e-commerce have started to change this by making it easier for individuals to directly engage in international sales and purchases. However, to what extent and how consumers directly participate in and shape international trade has remained largely unknown due to data limitations. In this paper, we use a unique dataset consisting of the entire universe of import shipments that entered Peru in 2019 to provide novel evidence on the role of both consumers and firms as importers, characterize the distribution and patterns of their foreign purchases, and assess how gravity forces shape their trade decisions, thus filling in this gap in the literature.
dc.format.extent25
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0012977
dc.identifier.urlhttps://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Consumers-and-Firms-in-International-Trade.pdf
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherInter-American Development Bank
dc.subjectInternational Trade
dc.subjectSmall Business
dc.subjectFirms Dynamics
dc.subjectImport
dc.subjectIntegration and Trade
dc.subjectE-Commerce
dc.subject.jelcodeF13 - Trade Policy • International Trade Organizations
dc.subject.jelcodeF14 - Empirical Studies of Trade
dc.subject.keywordsInternational trade;Consumers;Firms;Gravity
dc.typeWorking Papers
idb.identifier.pubnumberIDB-WP-01607
idb.operationRG-E1716
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