Trade patterns of Chinese firms after trade liberalization

LE LI; MERCEDES CAMPI; MARCO DUEÑAS

Shanghai

Workshop; Workshop: "Crisis, inequality and development"; 2016

DAAD y East China Normal University

In the 1990s, China started a process of trade liberalization, which was finally followed by the accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. Theoretically, in a more open economy, firms are expected to move from the production of a set of less-competitive products towards more internationally competitive ones. Moreover, given the expected decrease in trade costs, more productive firms are expected to enter international markets or increase the participation of exports in their total sales. Following these theoretical expectations, we analyze trade patterns of Chinese firms for the period 2000-2006. We study the distribution of Chinese firms trade and growth rates, uncovering several stylized facts. We analyze trade patterns and their changes after the WTO for different ownership types and technological sectors. Also, we investigate whether Chinese firms have diversified or specialized their trade patterns since the signing of the WTO in 2001.