Multidivisional firms, internal competition, and comparative advantage: Baye et al. Meet Neary

We present a tractable general equilibrium model to capture the effects of divisionalization on trade in oligopolistic industries. Divisionalization reduces the incentives for diversification in production. The extensive margins of trade expand as a result of divisionalization, facilitating specialization toward the direction of comparative advantage, with exports rising in the case of domestic divisionalization and imports rising in the case of foreign divisionalization. This effect of internal competition on specialization is magnified when competition between divisions is staggered. The factor market effects of divisionalization, domestic and/or foreign, strengthen the expansionary effects on the extensive margins of trade. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.