TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ahn,JaeBin
AU  - Khandelwal,Amit K.
AU  - Wei,Shang-Jin
TI  - The Role of Intermediaries in Facilitating Trade
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15706
PY  - 2010
Y2  - January 2010
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15706
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15706.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
JaeBin Ahn
IMF, Research Department
E-Mail: ja2264@columbia.edu

Amit Khandelwal
Graduate School of Business
Columbia University
Uris Hall 606, 3022 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
Tel: 212/854-7506
Fax: 212/316-9219
E-Mail: ak2796@columbia.edu

Shang-Jin Wei
Graduate School of Business
Columbia University
Uris Hall 619
3022 Broadway
New York, NY 10027-6902
Tel: 212/854-9139
E-Mail: shangjin.wei@columbia.edu
AB  - We provide systematic evidence that intermediaries play an important role in facilitating trade using a firm-level the census of China's exports. Intermediaries account for around 20% of China's exports in 2005. This implies that many firms engage in trade without directly exporting products. We modify a heterogeneous firm model so that firms endogenously select their mode of export - either directly or indirectly through an intermediary. The model predicts that intermediaries will be relatively more important in markets that are more difficult to penetrate. We provide empirical confirmation for this prediction, and generate new facts regarding the activity of intermediaries.
ER  -