How firms export: direct and indirect exporting, intermediaries, and hybrid firms (opens in new tab)

Some firms export their own products directly, others rely on intermediary firms to export on their behalf, and still others both export their own products and intermediate exports for other producers. To explain this heterogeneity, we develop a model in which firms differ along two dimensions: manufacturing capability and commercial capability. Manufacturing capability lowers the marginal cost of producing a variety, whereas commercial capabili...