FIW

Dear Colleague,

We cordially invite you to the wiiw-FIW-Seminar in International Economics on

Thursday, April 14^th, 4 pm

wiiw, Rahlgasse 3, 1060 Vienna, Library (2nd floor)

SWIMMING UPSTREAM:

Input-Output Linkages and the Direction of Product Adoption

Johannes Boehm (with Swati Dhingra and John Morrow)

SciencesPo Paris

Abstract

Multiproduct firms dominate production, and their product turnover contributes substantially to aggregate growth. Firms continually adapt their product mix, but what determines which products firms expand into? Theories of the firm propose that multiproduct firms choose to make products which need the same know-how or inputs that can't be bought `off the shelf'. We empirically examine this rationale by testing for firm-level capabilities that are shared across products and manifested through input-output (IO) linkages. We show that a firm's idiosyncratic horizontal and vertical similarity to a product's IO structure predicts product adoption. Using product-specific policy changes for a firm's inputs and outputs, we show that input linkages are the most important, suggesting that firms' product capabilities depend more on economies of scope rather than product market complementarities.

Keywords: Multiproduct firms, product adoption, vertical linkages, horizontal linkages

JEL Classification: L1, L2, M2, O3

After the seminar there will be the opportunity for the speaker and the audience for further discussions, accompanied by drinks and snacks.

This seminar series is an activity in the framework of FIW ('Forschungsschwerpunkt Internationale Wirtschaft'), which is a project designed to build a center of excellence in research on International Economics, funded by the Austrian Ministry of Science, Research and Economy (BMWFW).

The seminar programme is regularly updated. Please visit our website for the current version of the programme at:

http://wiiw.ac.at/fiw-wiiw-seminars-in-international-economics-es-6.html

http://www.fiw.ac.at/index.php?id=748

(Papers and presentation slides, as far as available, are posted on our homepage http://wiiw.ac.at/events.html after the respective seminars.)

Best regards

Julia Grübler

Organizer

Michaela Bönisch

Wiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche (wiiw)

The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies

Rahlgasse 3, A-1060 Wien

T: +43 1 533 66 10 - 40