Agreements (FTAs) on trade flows. In this paper we focus on FTAs (also called European agreements) between the European Union (EU … with the EU was signed exceeded trade growth of the control group of countries which did not become members. -- Trade …

provide our own estimates for the EU countries. A fiscal expansion raises output and consumption and reduces the trade balance … open EU economies, consistent with larger leakage effects. Further direct estimates suggest that fiscal expansions in large … EU economies have non-negligible consequences for economic activity in the main trading partners. This provides a …

We model EU countries' bank ratings using financial variables and allowing for intercept and slope heterogeneity. Our … aim is to assess whether "old" and "new" EU countries are rated differently and to determine whether "new" ones are … intercepts) are a crucial determinant of ratings. Whilst "new" EU countries typically have lower ratings than "old" ones, after …