The law of association as espoused by David Ricardo and generalized by Ludwig von Mises cannot directly convey what is at stake in exchanges involving specialization in uncertainty bearing. In this article we explain why the entrepreneurial function as conceptualized by Frank Knight and Mises...

In the present paper, we consider a two-country, two-good, two-factor general equilibrium model with CIES non-linear preferences, asymmetric technologies across countries and decreasing returns to scale. It is shown that aggregate instability and endogenous fluctuations may occur due to...

This paper studies the impacts and determinants of trade policy. I use data on applied tariff protection of world countries over 2001-2007 to estimate sector-level trade elasticities. I then calibrate a structural gravity model of world trade. I compute the impacts of trade agreements which were...

Import price elasticity tends to be under-estimated due to the omission of quality effects. This dissertation aims to fill this gap by analyzing 1) how quality effects affect the estimation of import price elasticity, 2) the impact of quality innovation in the various goods sectors of an economy...

The empirical U-shaped pattern between product diversification and economic development has been widely examined, but here we analyze the determinants of diversification. We find that a high level of rent-seeking activities has a large impact on the diversification of nations : in countries...

This paper analyses empirically the role of financial market imperfections in the way countries' exports react to a currency depreciation. Using quarterly data for 27 developed and developing countries over the period 1990-2005, we find that the impact of a depreciation on exports will be less...

Estimations of gravity equations specified in logarithm generally conclude that the distance elasticity of trade has increased over time despite globalization. In contrast, building on Santos Silva and Tenreyro (2006), this elasticity is estimated to have been stable around 0.65-0.70 since the...

This article presents a theory of aid as trade. I assume that aid is a payment for an invisible export of strategic services to a large donor country seeking diplomatic goodwill and exclusive strategic use of a small country's territory, oceanic space and airspace. In a formal two countries-two...

In the last decades the interaction between labour standards and international trade has assumed new importance. We use an incentive based-approach to assess the efficiency of trade policy instruments and private schemes for the promotion of international labour standards in Southern Firms. We...

This paper examines how import penetration affects firms' productivity growth taking into account the heterogeneity in firms' distance to the efficiency frontier and country differences in product market regulation.