Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • February 2018
  • Article
  • World Bank Economic Review

Heterogeneous Technology Diffusion and Ricardian Trade Patterns

By: William R. Kerr
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

This study tests the importance of Ricardian technology differences for international trade. The empirical analysis has three comparative advantages: including emerging and advanced economies, isolating panel variation regarding the link between productivity and exports, and exploiting heterogeneous technology diffusion from immigrant communities in the United States for identification. The latter instruments are developed by combining panel variation on the development of new technologies across U.S. cities with historical settlement patterns for migrants from countries. The instrumented elasticity of export growth on the intensive margin with respect to the exporter's productivity growth is between 1.6 and 2.4 depending upon weighting.

Keywords

Exports; Comparative Advantage; Technological Transfer; Innovation; Networks; Patents; Residency; Technology Adoption; Trade; Research and Development; Immigration; United States

Citation

Kerr, William R. "Heterogeneous Technology Diffusion and Ricardian Trade Patterns." World Bank Economic Review 32, no. 1 (February 2018): 163–182.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Author

William R. Kerr

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Author

    • 2025
    • Faculty Research

    Immigrant Entrepreneurship: New Estimates and a Research Agenda

    By: Saheel Chodavadia, Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and Louis Maiden
    • 2025
    • Faculty Research

    Careers of Minimum Wage Workers

    By: Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and Louis Maiden
    • October 2025
    • Faculty Research

    Will Fintechs and Central Banks Play in Emtech's Sandbox?

    By: Daniel Isenberg and William R. Kerr
More from the Author
  • Immigrant Entrepreneurship: New Estimates and a Research Agenda By: Saheel Chodavadia, Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and Louis Maiden
  • Careers of Minimum Wage Workers By: Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and Louis Maiden
  • Will Fintechs and Central Banks Play in Emtech's Sandbox? By: Daniel Isenberg and William R. Kerr
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.