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Essays in international trade and po...

Dobrescu, Gabriela.

Essays in international trade and political economy.

Record Type:	Electronic resources : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Essays in international trade and political economy.
Author:	Dobrescu, Gabriela.
Description:	181 p.
Notes:	Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-10, Section: A, page: .
Notes:	Adviser: Gerard Roland.
Contained By:	Dissertation Abstracts International70-10A.
Subject:	Economics, General.
Online resource:	http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=3383048
ISBN:	9781109449440

Essays in international trade and political economy.
Dobrescu, Gabriela.

Essays in international trade and political economy. - 181 p.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-10, Section: A, page: .

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 2009.

The first part of this thesis studies export performance in small, developing countries. First, I look at the role of reliability, proxied by ISO certification, in export performance. I analyze this question within a theoretical framework with firm-level heterogeneity in productivity and 'contractual ability'. When 'contractual ability' is lower in foreign transactions than in domestic ones, there is a threshold 'contractual ability' below which no level of productivity can compensate for the lack of capacity to contract internationally. This framework predicts that high-productivity exporters facing contractual difficulties seek certification, and that their sales performance improves after certification. I use panel data on Slovenian firms and find that firms self-select into certification and that certification improves total sales and export sales. The effects of certification increase with the contractual dependence of the firm's sector. Second, I explore the patterns and causes of underexporting for small, developing countries. I confront the state-of-the-art international trade model with Slovenian firm-level export data. I show that Slovenian firms underexport relative to this model's predictions: there are fewer exporters selling large shares of their output abroad, and when exporters do sell large shares of their output abroad, their export sales are on average much smaller. The most plausible explanations for these puzzling export patterns are different demand specifications across countries and sectoral differences.

ISBN: 9781109449440Subjects--Topical Terms:

212429
Economics, General.

Essays in international trade and political economy.
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100 1 $a Dobrescu, Gabriela. $3 384323
245 1 0 $a Essays in international trade and political economy.
300 $a 181 p.
500 $a Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-10, Section: A, page: .
500 $a Adviser: Gerard Roland.
502 $a Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 2009.
520 $a The first part of this thesis studies export performance in small, developing countries. First, I look at the role of reliability, proxied by ISO certification, in export performance. I analyze this question within a theoretical framework with firm-level heterogeneity in productivity and 'contractual ability'. When 'contractual ability' is lower in foreign transactions than in domestic ones, there is a threshold 'contractual ability' below which no level of productivity can compensate for the lack of capacity to contract internationally. This framework predicts that high-productivity exporters facing contractual difficulties seek certification, and that their sales performance improves after certification. I use panel data on Slovenian firms and find that firms self-select into certification and that certification improves total sales and export sales. The effects of certification increase with the contractual dependence of the firm's sector. Second, I explore the patterns and causes of underexporting for small, developing countries. I confront the state-of-the-art international trade model with Slovenian firm-level export data. I show that Slovenian firms underexport relative to this model's predictions: there are fewer exporters selling large shares of their output abroad, and when exporters do sell large shares of their output abroad, their export sales are on average much smaller. The most plausible explanations for these puzzling export patterns are different demand specifications across countries and sectoral differences.
520 $a The second part of my thesis explains vote-trading and oversized coalitions in the US Congress. I present evidence of vote-trading: the most frequent earmarks are round-valued and the representatives with centrist ideologies receive more earmarks. As earmarks spending increases, coalition sizes increase, average earmark values decrease and the proportion of round-valued earmarks increases. I build a legislative bargaining model with multiple ideological dimensions and heterogeneity in ideological preferences. I explicitly characterize vote-trading: the agenda-setter buys ideological votes with earmarks. The agenda-setter constructs coalitions larger than minimum-winning because each additional coalition member brings gains on ideological votes. This framework suggests causes for the recent increase in earmarks and proposes policies to restrict vote-trading and earmarks spending.
590 $a School code: 0028.
650 4 $a Economics, General. $3 212429
650 4 $a Economics, Theory. $3 212740
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710 2 $a University of California, Berkeley. $3 212474
773 0 $t Dissertation Abstracts International $g 70-10A.
790 1 0 $a Roland, Gerard, $e advisor
790 $a 0028
791 $a Ph.D.
792 $a 2009
856 4 0 $u http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=3383048