arXiv subjects

Asier Minondo

Publications and source records attributed to Asier Minondo.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

How firms export: product assignment, export platforms, and hybrid firms

Firms differ in manufacturing and foreign commercialization capabilities. We study how these differences organize exporting through multi-product export platforms. Products and increasingly costly platform slots form a transferable-utility assignment market. Complementarity between manufacturing and commercial capability generates positive assortative matching, while convex organizational costs determine platform scope. The equilibrium endogenously generates the four exporter types observed in firm-level trade data: direct exporters, indirect exporters, pure intermediaries, and hybrid firms. Lower contracting costs expand intermediated trade, stronger scope diseconomies fragment portfolios, and trade liberalization improves match quality. Intermediation can raise home national income by reallocating commercial capability across products.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2026

Reassessing the role of intermediaries in exports

Previous studies conclude that intermediaries account for a large share of exports. Using Spanish firm-level data, we show that many firms classified as intermediaries are either manufacturer-owned export arms that ship their parent firms' products or vertically integrated firms that control design, production, and distribution and predominantly export goods sold under their own brands. Once we exclude these export arms and vertically integrated firms, the share of intermediaries in exports in our sample falls by about 70%. We also show that pure intermediaries differ markedly from export arms and vertically integrated firms along key firm and export dimensions.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2024

The increasing share of low-value transactions in international trade

This paper documents a new feature of international trade: the increase in the share of low-value transactions in the total volume of transactions. Using Spanish data, we show that the share of low-value transactions in the total number of transactions increased from 9% to 61% in exports and from 14% to 54% in imports between 1997 and 2023. The increase in the number of low-value trade transactions is explained by the rise of e-commerce and direct-to-customer sales facilitated by online retail platforms, and the fast-fashion strategy followed by clothing firms.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2023

How exporters neutralized an increase in tariffs

I use the unanticipated and large additional tariffs the US imposed on European Union products due to the Airbus-Boeing conflict to analyze how exporters reacted to a change in trade policy. Using firm-level data for Spain and applying a difference-in-differences methodology, I show that the export revenue in the US of the firms affected by the tariff hike did not significantly decrease relative to the one of other Spanish exporters to the US. I show that Spanish exporters were able to neutralize the increase in tariffs by substituting Spanish products with products originated in countries unaffected by tariffs and shifting to varieties not affected by tariffs. My results show that tariff avoidance is another margin exporters can use to counteract the effects of a tariff hike.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2021

Exporters' reaction to positive foreign demand shocks

I use the quasi-natural experiment of the 2018 African swine fever (ASF) outbreak in China to analyze swine exporters' reaction to a foreign market's positive demand shock. I use the universe of Spanish firms' export transactions to China and other countries, and compare the performance of swine and other exporters before and after the ASF. The ASF almost tripled Spanish swine exporters' sales to China. Swine exporters did not increase exported product portfolio or export revenue concentration in their best-performing products in China after the ASF. The increase in exports to China positively impacted export revenue and survival in third markets. This positive impact was especially intense for small swine exporters. Domestic sales also increased for swine exporters with liquidity constraints before the ASF.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2020

Impact of COVID-19 on the trade of goods and services in Spain

The COVID-19 crisis has led to the sharpest collapse in the Spanish trade of goods and services in recent decades. The containment measures adopted to arrest the spread of the virus have caused an especially intense fall of trade in services. Spain's export specialization in transport equipment, capital and outdoor goods, and services that rely on the movement of people has made the COVID-19 trade crisis more intense in Spain than in the rest of the European Union. However, the nature of the collapse suggests that trade in goods can recover swiftly when the health crisis ends. On the other hand, COVID-19 may have a long-term negative impact on the trade of services that rely on the movement of people.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2020

Who presents and where? An analysis of research seminars in US economics departments

Using a large dataset of research seminars held at US economics departments in 2018, I explore the factors that determine who is invited to present at a research seminar and whether the invitation is accepted. I find that high-quality scholars have a higher probability of being invited than low-quality scholars, and researchers are more likely to accept an invitation if it is issued by a top economics department. The probability of being invited increases with the size of the host department. Young and low-quality scholars have a higher probability of accepting an invitation. The distance between the host department and invited scholar reduces the probability of being invited and accepting the invitation. Female scholars do not have a lower probability of being invited to give a research seminar than men.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2020

Comments are welcome

Scholars present their new research at seminars and conferences, and send drafts to peers, hoping to receive comments and suggestions that will improve the quality of their work. Using a dataset of papers published in economics journals, this article measures how much peers' individual and collective comments improve the quality of research. Controlling for the quality of the research idea and author, I find that a one standard deviation increase in the number of peers' individual and collective comments increases the quality of the journal in which the research is published by 47%.

econ.GN↗