BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH PRODID:-//Telerik Inc.//Sitefinity CMS 15.1//EN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Eastern Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=11 TZNAME:Eastern Standard Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250301T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:Eastern Daylight Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:Moynihan Institute of Global AffairsTrade\, Development and Pol itical EconomypresentMeredith StartzAssistant Professor\, Department of Ec onomicsDartmouth College "Cutting Out the Middleman:\nThe Structure of Cha ins of Intermediation" \n\nDistribution of goods often involves chains of\ nintermediaries engaged in sequential buying and reselling. Why do such ch ains\narise\, and how do they affect consumers and their ability to gain f rom trade?\nThis paper shows that the existence of internal economies of s cale in trade\nlogistics is a sufficient mechanism to yield chains with mu ltiple\nintermediaries\, and that this suggests consumers in developing co untries are\nmore likely to be served via long chains. Contrary to common wisdom\, cutting\nmiddlemen out can\, but does not necessarily\, benefit c onsumers. Instead\, there\nis a fundamental tradeoff between costs and ent ry that means even pure\nreductions in trade costs can have perverse effec ts. The proposed mechanism is\nsimple\, but can account for empirical patt erns in wholesale firm size\, prices\nand markups that we document using o riginal survey data on imported consumer\ngoods in Nigeria. We estimate a structural version of the model for\ndistribution of Chinese-made apparel in Nigeria\, and describe endogenous\nrestructuring of chains and the resu lting impacts on consumer welfare in\nresponse to counterfactual changes i n regulation\, e-commerce technologies\, and\ntransport infrastructure.\n\ n \n\nMeredith Startz\nis an assistant professor in the Dartmouth economic s department. Her research\nis at the intersection of development and trad e\, and focuses on how contracting\nproblems shape transactions and firms in developing countries.\n\nFor more information contact Ryan Monarch\, rp monarc@syr.edu . For accessibility accommodations\, contact jmhoran@syr.ed u  \; DTEND:20211004T213000Z DTSTAMP:20260512T213738Z DTSTART:20211004T200000Z LOCATION: SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:Meredith Startz: Cutting Out the Middleman: The Structure of Chains of Intermediation UID:RFCALITEM639142042583199473 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs

Trade\, Development and Political Economy

present


< b>Meredith Startz

Assistant Professor\, Department of Economics< /p>

Dartmouth College


"Cutting Out the Middleman:\n The Structure of Chains of Intermediation"


\n\n

D istribution of goods often involves chains of\nintermediaries engaged in s equential buying and reselling. Why do such chains\narise\, and how do the y affect consumers and their ability to gain from trade?\nThis paper shows that the existence of internal economies of scale in trade\nlogistics is a sufficient mechanism to yield chains with multiple\nintermediaries\, and that this suggests consumers in developing countries are\nmore likely to be served via long chains. Contrary to common wisdom\, cutting\nmiddlemen out can\, but does not necessarily\, benefit consumers. Instead\, there\ni s a fundamental tradeoff between costs and entry that means even pure\nred uctions in trade costs can have perverse effects. The proposed mechanism i s\nsimple\, but can account for empirical patterns in wholesale firm size\ , prices\nand markups that we document using original survey data on impor ted consumer\ngoods in Nigeria. We estimate a structural version of the mo del for\ndistribution of Chinese-made apparel in Nigeria\, and describe en dogenous\nrestructuring of chains and the resulting impacts on consumer we lfare in\nresponse to counterfactual changes in regulation\, e-commerce te chnologies\, and\ntransport infrastructure.

\n\n

\n\n

Mere dith Startz\nis an assistant professor in the Dartmouth economics departme nt. Her research\nis at the intersection of development and trade\, and fo cuses on how contracting\nproblems shape transactions and firms in develop ing countries.

\n\n


For more information contact Ryan M onarch\, rpmonarc@syr.edu . For acce ssibility accommodations\, contact jmhora n@syr.edu

 \;

END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR