Wheat or Strawberries? Intermediated Trade with Limited Contracting
研究发展中国家为何未能专业化生产具有比较优势的农产品，通过中间商贸易模型解释合同环境差导致的敲竹杠问题，并探讨补贴、价格支持、简化检疫要求等政策如何缓解该问题。
Why do developing countries fail to specialize in products in which they appear to have a comparative advantage? We propose a model of agricultural trade with intermediation that explains how hold up resulting from poor contracting environments can produce such an outcome. We use the model to explore the role of production subsidies, support prices, easing sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements, and the creation of local markets in resolving the hold up problem. The model highlights the importance of infrastructure in aligning production outcomes with comparative advantage and sheds light on the pass-through of the world price to the producer.