TDPE Seminar Series Presents: Fariha Kamal

TDPE presents: Fariha Kamal

This paper explores the role of institutions in partner countries in shaping the patterns of spatial concentration of foreign suppliers that transact with U.S. importers. The authors find that the spatial concentration of suppliers within a country for an importer, as measured by a Herfindahl index, is decreasing in the quality of the origin country’s contracting institutions and transport infrastructure. Additionally, they find that spatial concentration of suppliers is lower for larger U.S. importers. Their findings are consistent with the idea that there might be a greater role for networks among trading firms that operate within defined geographic boundaries, in surmounting higher costs of matching imposed by weak institutions and infrastructure.

Dr. Fariha Kamal is a Senior Economist at the Center for Economic Studies at the U.S. Census Bureau. Her primary research interests are in the field of international trade. Her current research investigates the causes and consequences of individual buyer-seller relationships in international trade. Dr. Kamal earned her Ph.D. in Economics from Syracuse University. She holds a M.B.A. from Clark University and a B.A. in Economics from Mount Holyoke College.

Sponsored by the Trade Development and Political Economy Program at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs