Reciprocal Dumping with Product Differentiation

This paper examines if international trade can reduce total welfare in an international oligopoly with differentiated goods. We show that intra-industry trade, i.e. “reciprocal dumping,” can result in lower total surplus than autarky in a Cournot model for any degree of product differentiation. Moreover, trade can reduce welfare compared to autarky in a Bertrand model when the local markets are sufficiently competitive and products are sufficiently close substitutes. Otherwise it unambiguously increases welfare.