Estimating the border effect : some new evidence / Gita Gopinath ... [et al.]
Material type:
TextSeries: Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research) ; no. 14938.Publication details: Cambridge, MA : National Bureau of Economic Research, 2009Description: 49 p. : ill. ; 22 cmSubject(s): International trade -- Econometric models | Groceries -- Prices -- United States -- Econometric models | Groceries -- Prices -- Canada -- Econometric models | Foreign exchange rates -- United States | Foreign exchange rates -- CanadaLOC classification: HB1 | .N38 no.14938Online resources: Click here to access online Summary: To what extent do national borders and national currencies impose costs that segment markets across countries? To answer this question we use a dataset with product level retail prices and wholesale costs for a large grocery chain with stores in the U.S. and Canada. We develop a model of pricing by location and employ a regression discontinuity approach to estimate and interpret the border effect. We report three main facts: 1) The median absolute retail price and whole-sale cost discontinuity between adjacent stores on either side of the U.S.-Canada border is as high as 21%. In contrast, within-country border discontinuity is close to 0%; 2) The variation in the retail price gap at the border is almost entirely driven by variation in wholesale costs, not by variation in markups; 3) The border gap in prices and costs co-move almost one to one with changes in the U.S.-Canada nominal exchange rate. We show these facts suggest that the price gaps we estimate provide only a lower bound on border costs.
| Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
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University of Macedonia Library Βιβλιοστάσιο Β (Stack Room B) | Research Papers | HB1.N38 no.14938 (Browse shelf (Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 0013125652 |
Includes bibliographical references (p. 27-28).
To what extent do national borders and national currencies impose costs that segment markets across countries? To answer this question we use a dataset with product level retail prices and wholesale costs for a large grocery chain with stores in the U.S. and Canada. We develop a model of pricing by location and employ a regression discontinuity approach to estimate and interpret the border effect. We report three main facts: 1) The median absolute retail price and whole-sale cost discontinuity between adjacent stores on either side of the U.S.-Canada border is as high as 21%. In contrast, within-country border discontinuity is close to 0%; 2) The variation in the retail price gap at the border is almost entirely driven by variation in wholesale costs, not by variation in markups; 3) The border gap in prices and costs co-move almost one to one with changes in the U.S.-Canada nominal exchange rate. We show these facts suggest that the price gaps we estimate provide only a lower bound on border costs.
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