Asier Minondo

• PhD Economics
• Professor at University of Deusto

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 inc...

This paper documents a new feature of international trade: the increase in the number of low-value 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 tr...

We examined the role of top exporters in sub-national export specialization using Spanish firm-level export data at the province (NUTS 3) level. Our results show that, on average, 28% of aggregate exports in each province are in sectors where the top exporter determines the revealed comparative advantage (RCA). Moreover, provinces with sectors wher...

We use Spanish firm-level data over the period 1998-2018 to examine the importance of the top exporter in terms of NUTS III (provincial) exports. We find that: (1) the top exporter in each province represents about one fifth of total exports per year; (2) firms contribute to export growth whilst on their way towards the top position but once the la...

I use the unanticipated and large additional tariffs the US imposed on European Union products due to the Airbus‐Boeing conflict to analyse 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 tar...

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the disruption of supply chains has become a major concern for global firms. This paper uses a representative sample of Spanish manufacturers that participate in global value chains to analyze whether firms are implementing strategies to respond to this concern. Using data for the period 2017-2022, we fi...

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 tar...

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...

This paper explores whether social ties, proxied by Facebook friendship links, can explain why the number and value of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are greater within countries than between countries. We find that social ties are positively correlated with the number and value of M&As. We also demonstrate that the home bias in M&As is greatly re...

Using a firm-level dataset of more than 500,000 domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) for 95 countries during the period 1995–2015, we measure the level and evolution of the border effect on M&As. We find that the number and value of M&As between same-country firms are five times larger than between firms of different countries....

Combining Spanish firm-level monthly trade data with country-level Covid-19 containment measures over February–July 2020, we show that the value of exports decreased more in destinations that introduced strict containment measures, whereas the value of imports remained unaffected. Strict containment measures in a partner country increased the proba...

Scholars present their new research at seminars and conferences and send drafts to peers in hopes of receiving comments and suggestions that will improve the quality of their work. Using a dataset of projects that were initiated when authors were doing their doctoral studies, this article measures how much peers’ individual and collective comments...

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...

Uno de los rasgos más destacables del comercio mundial durante las dos últimas décadas es la ganancia de cuota de mercado de los países de renta media en las exportaciones mundiales. Sin embargo, esta tendencia esconde grandes diferencias entre países. Mientras que países como China han conseguido multiplicar por diez sus exportaciones, otros paíse...

Utilizando datos de empresas manufactureras exportadoras españolas, este trabajo investiga si la presencia de empresas que exportan de forma regular un producto a un país ayuda a otras empresas en la misma provincia que empiezan a exportar a mantener relaciones de exportación más duraderas. Nuestros resultados muestran que: (i) la tasa de supervive...

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...

Competition from China is perceived as particularly damaging. We study whether this is true for firm performance. Using the universe of Spanish export transactions, we find that an increase in competition from China does not have a more damaging effect on export revenues, prices, and number of exported products than an equally‐sized increase in com...

This paper analyzes the contribution of fundamental comparative advantage (a country‐specific component) and granular comparative advantage (a firm‐specific component) to European Union countries' export specialization. We find that, on average, granular comparative advantage may explain export specialization in 29% of industries, which account for...

Using a large sample of export transactions in Spain over the period 2010–2017, we explore whether firms treat export markets as substitutes, complements, or independent. We find that an exogenous change in revenue in a firm’s top export destination does not change its revenue in other destinations. A firm does not have either a larger probability...

I combine firm‐level export data from eight low‐income and middle‐income countries to test the relation between export price and export revenue. Across‐firm estimations show a strong positive association between export price and export revenue. Within‐firm estimations show that firms generate larger export revenue from their high‐price products. Th...

We use Kosovo’s transaction-level import value, tariff duties and transport cost data for very finely disaggregated products to test the Alchian–Allen conjecture. First, we show that the elasticity of freight costs to import prices is much lower than the unitary elasticity predicted by the iceberg transport cost hypothesis. Second, we find that imp...

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 a...

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. Contro...

Using the universe of Spanish export transactions over 2000–2012, this paper explores empirically whether the choice of destinations among experienced and new exporters is affected by the number and performance of previous exporters in those destinations. The regression analysis shows that new exporters benefit more from information spillovers than...

Después de la Gran Recesión de 2008-2009, la evolución de las exportaciones españolas ha sido positiva. Algunos analistas atribuyen este comportamiento al incremento de la base exportadora. Para validar esta hipótesis, realizamos una descomposición del crecimiento de las exportaciones españolas por márgenes en el periodo 1997-2015. Los datos muestr...

The severe reduction in domestic demand between 2008 and 2013 in Spain led many firms to start exporting. We explore whether the increase in the new crisis-induced exporters led to a larger number of regular exporters once domestic demand returned to pre-crisis levels. Using an instrumental variable approach, we find that a 10% increase in new expo...

Since the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) was signed in 2006, Albanian exports to CEFTA member countries have increased four-fold. Applying a trade growth decomposition methodology, we show that Albanian firms that did not export to CEFTA countries before the agreement account for a large share of this export growth. Exports also incr...

Combining data on locations with career and educational histories of mathematicians, we study how distance and ties affect citation patterns. The ties considered include coauthorship, past colocation, and relationships mediated by advisers and the alma mater. With fixed effects capturing subject similarity and article quality, we find linkages are...

Combining data on locations with career and educational histories of mathematicians, we study how distance and ties affect citation patterns. The ties considered include coauthorship, past colocation, and relationships mediated by advisors and the \emph{alma mater}. With fixed effects capturing subject similarity and article quality, we find linka...

This paper uses highly disaggregated data to analyze the convergence process in product‐level relative productivity across Spanish provinces. Over the period 1988‐2013 there is a 53 per cent reduction in product‐level relative productivity differences across provinces. The speed of convergence in product‐level productivity is faster than in income...

This paper analyzes whether top exporters follow a cost-based or a quality-based strategy. Using Spanish firm-level export data for 2016, we show that firms that set lower export prices have larger export revenues. We also find that exporters obtain larger revenues from their low-price products than from their high-price products. Some results sugg...

Using firm-level export data for the 2010–2014 period, we investigate the variation of export prices across and within Spanish manufacturing firms. We find that more productive firms set higher export prices. However, this result is not robust to controlling for other firm-level characteristics and alternative productivity measures. We show that fi...

This paper uses transaction-level trade data to analyze the differences in export prices across and within Spanish firms exporting manufactures in the 2010–2014 period. The transactional nature of the database uncovers sizable differences in the price that an exporter charges for the same product and destination. These differences are related with...

The Ricardian and Heckscher-Ohlin models of international trade contend that firms do not play any role in shaping countries' export specialization. However, the evidence shows that few firms dominate exports in many countries. This paper analyzes the relative contribution of fundamental (country) and granular (individual) comparative advantage to...

Using data for all exporters, we show that it is a small group of firms that dominate exports in Spain. For example, in 2015 the top 200 firms were responsible for half of Spanish exports. This concentration has not changed substantially over the 1997–2015 period. The dominance of a few firms, a phenomenon denoted as granularity, also defines the s...

We analyse whether more populated cities have an export specialization different from the one of less populated cities. Using very detailed product-level export data for Brazilian urban areas over the period 2000–2013, we show that more populated cities export proportionately more skill-intensive and complex goods than less populated cities. This r...

The development of new industries demands access to local capabilities. Little attention has yet been paid to the role of spillovers from neighbour regions for industrial diversification, nor has the role of network linkages between neighbour regions been investigated. As the spread of capabilities has a strong geographical bias, we expect regions...

We use network analysis tools to identify communities in the web of exporters' destinations. Our network-based community measure is purely outcome based, it captures multilateral rather than bilateral dependence across countries, and it can be calculated at the industry level. Next, we use our network-based community measure as predictor of additio...

We use network-analysis tools to identify communities in the web of exporters' destinations. Our network-based community measure is purely outcome-based; it captures multilateral rather than bilateral dependence across countries; and it can be calculated at the industry level. We next use our network-based community measure as a predictor of additi...

Using data on academic citations, career and educational histories of mathematicians, and disaggregated distance data for the world's top 1000 math departments, we study how geography and ties affect knowledge flows among scholars. The ties we consider are coauthorship, past colocation, advisor-mediated relationships, and alma mater relationships (...

In the period 1997-2011, import competition from China multiplied by five in the Spanish manufacturing sector. In this paper we analyze whether this severe increase in import competition from China is associated with a higher probability of becoming unemployed in the Spanish manufacturing sector. Linking industry-level data on imports with the work...

Using data on academic citations, career and educational histories of mathematicians, and disaggregated distance data for the world's top 1000 math departments, we study how geography and ties affect knowledge flows among scholars. The ties we consider are coauthorship, past colocation, advisor-mediated relationships, and alma mater relationships (...

Donoso V., Martín V. and Minondo A. Do differences in the exposure to Chinese imports lead to differences in local labour market outcomes? An analysis for Spanish provinces, Regional Studies. In the period 1999-2007 Spanish imports from China multiplied six times, making that Asian country the fourth largest supplier to the Spanish economy. This pa...

The literature shows that new exporters have small levels of exports relative to regular exporters upon entry, and, if they survive, they have very high export growth rates between the entry year and the next year. However, these empirical facts might be biased by the partial year effect: firms that start to export late during the year have a lower...

This paper analyses the relationship between export status and productivity in a major service exporter, Spain, during 2001–07. I find that exporters in the services sector are 45 percent more productive than non-exporters. This productivity premium is larger for firms that supply non-internet-related services than for firms that supply internet-re...

In this study, I analyze the characteristics of trading firms in the Spanish service sector. I reveal that half of the service firms in Spain operate only in their local markets, whereas one-third of them trade with non-local areas of Spain, and fewer than 20% trade with other nations. As in the manufacturing sector, trading firms in the service se...

This paper analyzes whether complexity, measured by the number of skilled tasks that are performed in production, explains countries’ commodity trade structure. We modify the Romalis (2004) model to incorporate advantage differences in complexity across commodities together with differences in the number of mistakes made by workers in the productio...

To estimate correctly the effect of variable trade costs of firms' exports, the gravity equation should control for the lumber of firms that participate in foreign markets. Due to the absence of these data, previous studies control for this omitted variable using econometric strategies that may also lead to inconsistent estimates. To overcome this...

How do regions diversify over time? Inspired by recent studies, we argue that regions diversify into industries that make use of capabilities in which regions are specialized. As the spread of capabilities occurs through mechanisms that have a strong regional bias, we expect that capabilities available at the regional level play a larger role than...

Previous studies have shown that, not only countries, but also regions have a preference to trade within their administrative borders. Using unique trade flows data, we also find a large home bias in Spanish intranational trade. However, we show that this home bias disappears once we take into account the higher density of social and business netwo...

This paper investigates the influence of exporting countries' characteristics on the number of exporters (extensive margin) and average exports value per firm (intensive margin). For that purpose, we use a new database compiled by the OECD and Eurostat in year 2005, which allows the calculation of trade margins in bilateral relationships involving...

This paper investigates whether related variety, among other types of spatial externalities, affected regional growth in Spain at the NUTS 3 level during the period 1995–2007.We found evidence that related variety matters for growth across regions, especially when using two new methods that measure revealed relatedness between industries. The first...

Este trabajo investiga las ganancias de bienestar a través de las importaciones españolas de nuevas variedades entre 1988 y 2006 usando la metodología propuesta por Feenstra (1994) y Broda y Weinstein (2006). Después de calcular la elasticidad de sustitución para un gran número de productos importados, estimamos que la ganancia de bienestar asociad...

This paper analyzes the effect of business and social networks on the extensive and intensive margins of trade. Using industry-level bilateral trade data for Spanish regions in the period 2004-2008, we show that both social and business networks have a very large trade-creating effect. We find the following results: (1) Networks have a much stronge...

The existence of a large border effect is considered as one of the main puzzles of international macroeconomics. We show that the border effect is, to a large extent, an artefact of geographical concentration. To do so, we combine international flows with intra‐national flows data characterised by a high geographical grid. At this fine grid, intra‐...

This paper analyses whether the products in which a country has comparative advantage can explain its exports’ diversification level. We argue that specialisation endows countries with some specific skills and assets; in some cases those skills and assets can easily be redeployed in other products and facilitate diversification, whereas in other ca...

Recent empirical research highlights that differences in trade flows across countries, products and years are governed by two margins: the intensive margin and the extensive margin. The analysis of the relative contribution of each margin is very important to determine which policies can be more efficient to foster trade at the aggregate, geographi...

To estimate correctly the effect of variable trade costs on firms' exports, the gravity equation should control for the number of firms that participate in foreign markets. Due to the absence of these data, previous studies control for this omitted variable using econometric strategies that may also lead to inconsistent estimations. To overcome thi...

According to recent studies, countries specialised in products associated with higher productivity levels are likely to grow faster than countries specialised in other goods. A limitation of these studies is that they do not control for quality differences within a product category when measuring goods' productivity level. In this paper we show tha...

MINONDO A. Exports' productivity and growth across Spanish regions, Regional Studies. According to recent studies, countries specialized in goods associated with high productivity levels grow faster than countries specialized in goods associated with low productivity levels. This paper analyses whether that relationship also takes place at the regi...

This paper investigates the welfare gains due to Spanish imports of new varieties over the period 1988-2006 using the methodology proposed by Feenstra (1994) and Broda and Weinstein (2006). After calculating the elasticities of substitution of Spanish imported products, we estimate that the total welfare gain due to imports of new varieties in Spai...

Why do exports grow faster in some regions than in others? The regional literature has traditionally answered this question using a shift-share analysis, which focuses on regional differences in the composition of international exports by industry and destination. In this paper we apply an intensive/extensive margin decomposition framework, which s...

El objetivo de este trabajo es estimar qué porcentaje de la producción de la Comunidad Autónoma de Euskadi se exporta indirectamente al extranjero al ir incorporada como producto intermedio en las exportaciones del resto del Estado. Nuestras estimaciones muestran que las exportaciones indirectas tienen un peso pequeño en el total de las exportacion...

This paper analyses the effect of outsourcing on the demand for skills in the Spanish manufacturing industries. For the first time, in the literature we distinguish the origin of outsourcing between developed and developing countries. As theoretically expected, we find a positive link between outsourcing to developing countries and a higher demand...

¿Qué papel juega la especialización productiva en el crecimiento económico? Estudios recientes ponen de manifiesto que los países que exportan productos más sofisticados, en los que el margen de mejora en la calidad es más elevado, y que ofrecen muchas posibilidades de diversificación crecen más rápido. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la si...

Este trabajo utiliza un método de shift-share como herramienta para analizar la evolución de la competitividad exterior de una economía. Frente a otros indicadores tradicionales de competitividad (cuota de mercado, índice de ventaja comparativa revelada), este método ofrece una perspectiva dinámica para la evaluación de la competitividad exterior y...

Why do exports grow faster in some regions than in others? The regional literature has traditionally answered this question using a shift-share analysis, which focuses on regional differences in the composition of international exports by industry and destination. In this paper we apply an intensive/extensive margin decomposition framework, which s...

Following the methodology developed by recent studies, we combine international trade data andexporter countries\' GDP per capita to calculate the degree of sophistication of Basque exports andto analyse its evolution in the 1996-2005 period. Our results show that Basque exports aresituated at the top quarter of the world\'s ranking, with a level o...

This paper estimates the tariff equivalent of the border barrier in each bilateral trade among European Union (EU) countries. The results show that there are large differences in the border barrier across EU countries' bilateral trade. In some bilateral trade flows the border barrier has almost disappeared, whereas in other cases it is still equiva...

Following the methodology developed by recent studies, in this article we combine international trade data and exporter countries' income per capita to calculate the degree of sophistication of Spanish manufacturing exports. Our results show that during the 1984-2000 period there has been an increase in the share of high sophistication and medium-h...

This study analyses the effect of outsourcing on the demand for skills in the Spanish manufacturing industries. For the first time in the literature the origin of outsourcing is taken into account, distinguishing imports coming from developing countries and imports produced in developed countries. As theoretically expected, a positive link is found...

El presente trabajo utiliza un modelo estructural de gravedad para calcular el equivalente en arancel de la existencia de fronteras y el sesgo doméstico medio en el comercio de los países de la Unión Europea. Las estimaciones muestran que el equivalente en arancel de la existencia de fronteras es del 50 por 100, el cual provoca que los países europ...

Desde Adam Smith, los economistas han reconocido la importancia de la protección de los derechos de propiedad, el cumplimiento de los contratos, la estabilidad política y la ausencia de corrupción para que una economía pueda prosperar. Sin embargo, no es hasta fechas muy recientes cuando los investigadores han tratado de estimar en qué medida las i...

Distribution free statistics are employed to investigate biennial income per capita convergence across 52 Spanish provinces over the period 1955-1997. Based upon ideas of concordance and discordance that capture convergence and divergence properties, the paper presents results that suggest convergence is dominant for the full sample over the entire...

Los estudios empíricos muestran que los países comercian más dentro de sus fronteras que fuera de ellas. Algunas investigaciones realizadas para los Estados Unidos concluyen, además, que este sesgo nacional se refuerza, ya que los estados comercian más consigo mismos que con otros estados de EE.UU. El articulo analiza esta cuestión comparando las v...

A pesar del proceso de integración comercial que está experimentado la economía mundial todavía los países comercian más dentro de sus fron- teras que fuera de ellas. Este artículo analiza el comercio bilateral entre el País Vasco y el resto de España, y ofrece nuevas evidencias sobre el llamado "sesgo doméstico". Los resultados del estudio empíric...

Una de las nuevas características del comercio internacional reside en la creciente interconexión de las actividades productivas entre diferentes países. En este artículo se analiza un aspecto clave de esta interconexión de las actividades productivas, la especialización vertical, la cual mide la cuantía de input intermedios importados que se utili...

A partir de la década de 1980 los países en vías de desarrollo han aumentado considera-blemente su participación en el comercio internacional, especialmente en el sector manu-facturero. Esta mayor participación ha renovado el debate sobre la contribución del comer-cio internacional al crecimiento económico. Los estudios empíricos más recientes no p...

El presente artículo analiza una de las propuestas para limitar el uso de la mano de obra infantil en los países en vías de desarrollo: la limitación del acceso a los mercados de los países desarrollados. En primer lugar, el artículo analiza las barreras que el trabajo infantil impone al desarrollo económico. En segundo lugar, se analizan los efect...

Tras precisar el significado del término competitividad y delimitar los indicadores que se emplearán para su medición (renta per capita industrial, saldo comercial relativo y rentabilidad empresarial), en el artículo se efectúa un análisis del nivel que alcanzan tales indicadores en la actualidad, así como de la relación que guardan dichos indicado...

This paper, in contrast to the above-mentioned studies, which have focused either on developed countries or on developing countries, analyses the impact of trade on middle-income countries' labour markets, taking Spain as a case study. As in many previous studies on this subject, factor content calculations are used to analyse the labour-market imp...

Durante las dos últimas décadas los países de renta media han ganado cuota de mercado en las exportaciones mundiales. Sin embargo, esta tendencia esconde grandes diferencias entre países. El objetivo de este trabajo es explicar estas diferencias. Para ello descomponemos el crecimiento de las exportaciones en dos márgenes: extensivo (diversificación...

Using unique firm-level data, we analyze the characteristics of services exporters in one of world's most important services traders: Spain. Our paper shows that only a small percentage of firms participate in services export; moreover, exports represent a small share of total turnover for traders. We also find that exporters have a premium over no...

Using a unique database, I estimate the costs of trading with European Union countries, relative to the costs of trading with the domestic market, for services and manufacturing firms located in the Basque Country region of Spain. I find that, despite the dramatic improvement in information and communication technologies, international trade costs...

In this paper we analyse whether industries' average firm size, apparent labour productivity and skill content of the labour force influence the border effect. We show that a country has a lower border effect in those industries that are characterised by a larger average firm size, by a higher apparent labour productivity and by a more skilled labo...

En este artículo se analiza cuál ha sido la importancia del proceso de externalización de los suministros -generalmente conocido como outsourcing- en la historia reciente en el sector manufacturero español. Se trata de un fenómeno que ha suscitado un creciente interés dentro del estudio del comercio internacional debido a su creciente dimensión e i...