Date and Time: August 20th, 2019, 10:00 am - 11:30 am
Room: A 101 in the Economics Building (Museum)
Abstract
In this paper, we first present facts and construct a simple theoretical sketch to show that low product quality is an important reason for anti-dumping initiations. Low product quality could stem from low-quality valuations by consumers or high cost of improving quality. We then use firm-level data from China to test the theory. Results indicate, (i) Chinese exports of intermediates such as iron and steel and chemical fiber products are more likely to get AD, due to the high-cost to improve their quality; (ii) products mostly exported by State-owned enterprises (SOEs) receive more AD, perhaps because SOEs export more intermediates; (iii) firms in western China receive more AD, since the reputation of their products is lower than in other regions.
Various robustness checks such as lagged variables, average reputation, different definitions of quality and productivity, different samples and trade modes are conducted.
