This paper proposes a model in which the removal of barriers to trade and factor mobility is associated with endogenous fragmentation of the value-added chain. Fragmentation is the outcome of cost competition - the profit-maximizing choice of cost structure by monopolistically competitive firms....

Fragmentation of the value-added-chain is modeled as the reaction of monopolistically competitive firms to the removal of barriers to trade and factor mobility in an integrated trading environment. Since fragmentation requires high-skilled labor, this form of globalization can induce labor...

We embed a simple incomplete-contracts model of organization design in a standard two-country perfectly-competitive trade model to examine how the liberalization of product and factor markets affects the ownership structure of firms. In our model, managers decide whether or not to integrate...

This paper is an investigation on the main changes observed in the Italian trade with a group of Eastern European economies over the period 1988-1997, during which Italy has become the second EU trade partner for Eastern Europe after Germany. Eastern European countries show patterns of...

In this paper we compute price/quality gap indicators to measure vertical intra-iundustry trade (VIIT) in EU markets at 3-digit NACE industry level. These indicators are then used to test some hypotheses relative to the determinants of the quality of trade of Central and Eastern European...

There are two contrasting views of pre-19th century trade and globalization. First there are the world history scholars like Andre Gunder Frank who attach globalization ‘big bang' significance to the dates 1492 (Christopher Columbus stumbles on America in search of spices) and 1498 (Vasco da...