We identify the groups of countries where international risk-sharing opportunities are most attractive. We show that … the bulk of risk-sharing gains can be achieved in groups consisting of as few as seven members, and that further marginal … benefits quickly become negligible. For many such small groups, the welfare gains associated with risk sharing are far larger …

We show that international consumption risk sharing is significantly improved by capital flows, especially portfolio … investment. Concomitantly, we show that poor institutions hamper risk sharing, but to an extent that decreases with openness. In … particular, risk sharing is prevalent even among economies with poor institutions, provided they are open to international …

financial development has important consequences for the efficiency and specialization (or diversification) of investments, in a …

that financial development has important consequences for efficiency and specialization (or diversification) of investments …

We investigate theoretically and empirically the competitive effects of increased trade on prices, productivity and … productivity. In response to an increase in openness, markups show a steep short run decline, which partly reverses later, while … productivity rises in a manner that increases over time. Our estimates suggest that EU manufacturing prices fell by 2 …