Development Perspectives on Trade Growth at the Extensive Margin

This dissertation examines the links between international trade and economic development through the lens of export growth at the extensive margin. By extensive margin growth is meant either trade in previously untraded products, or trade in existing products between new country pairs. The three chapters of this dissertation represent some of the first contributions to the literature in this area with an approach anchored in development policy concerns. They contribute to a clearer understanding of the links between firm heterogeneity, extensive margin growth, and development. In addition, they provide new insights into the importance of domestic regulations and institutions in terms of developing country trade performance. Chapter one shows that similar factors also affect diversification in the geographical dimension. Chapter three takes the opposite approach, showing that product standards in importing countries can affect export diversification overseas. All three chapters use trade models incorporating heterogeneous firms to motivate the empirical work undertaken.