Income Distribution, Product Quality, and International Trade
构建了一个包含垂直和水平差异化产品的贸易模型，消费者按收入和偏好选择质量与品种，解释了富国出口更高质量产品的原因，并可用于分析贸易对不同收入群体的福利影响。
We develop a framework for studying trade in vertically and horizontally differentiated products. In our model, consumers with heterogeneous incomes and tastes purchase a homogeneous good as well as making a discrete choice of quality and variety of a differentiated product. The distribution of preferences in the population generates a nested logit demand structure. These demands are such that the fraction of consumers who buy a higher-quality product rises with income. We use the model to study the pattern of trade between countries that differ in size and income distributions but are otherwise identical. Trade―which is driven primarily by demand factors―derives from "home market effects" in the presence of transport costs. The model helps to explain why richer countries export higher-quality goods. It provides a tractable tool for studying the welfare consequences of trade, transport costs, and trade policy for different income groups in an economy.