<p>The intrinsic utility that consumers in a country obtain from different consumption goods may be influenced by the consumption choices of their counterparts in other countries. Such endogenously determined preferences have a potentially substantial influence on market prices, aggregate consumption, and social welfare. We analyze a two-country, two-good, general equilibrium model with international trade to examine the effect of cross-country endogenous preferences. We consider scenarios in which both countries are socially influenced, only one country is socially influenced, and neither country is socially influenced. While prices are monotonically increasing in the social influence weight in the consumer’s utility function and degree of social influence in the trade relationship, consumption levels of the good with more social influence only increase if it is the home good of the socially influenced country. Whether consumption levels of the less influential good increase or not depends on whether the other country is also socially influenced. Welfare has a monotonic relationship with the social influence weight of the home good and the degree of the social influence in the trade relationship, highlighting the importance of increasing the preference-based social influence of a country’s home good.</p>

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We Want What They’re Having: Cross-Country Endogenous Preferences in International Trade

  • Wei He,
  • Jaimie W. Lien,
  • Jie Zheng

摘要

The intrinsic utility that consumers in a country obtain from different consumption goods may be influenced by the consumption choices of their counterparts in other countries. Such endogenously determined preferences have a potentially substantial influence on market prices, aggregate consumption, and social welfare. We analyze a two-country, two-good, general equilibrium model with international trade to examine the effect of cross-country endogenous preferences. We consider scenarios in which both countries are socially influenced, only one country is socially influenced, and neither country is socially influenced. While prices are monotonically increasing in the social influence weight in the consumer’s utility function and degree of social influence in the trade relationship, consumption levels of the good with more social influence only increase if it is the home good of the socially influenced country. Whether consumption levels of the less influential good increase or not depends on whether the other country is also socially influenced. Welfare has a monotonic relationship with the social influence weight of the home good and the degree of the social influence in the trade relationship, highlighting the importance of increasing the preference-based social influence of a country’s home good.