Economic and commercial relations between the countries of the southern Mediterranean and the European Union (EU) have been profoundly affected by the recent ‘EU Initiative for the Mediterranean’ and conditioned by the creation of European Monetary Union (EMU). The paper discusses the costs,...

In this paper we use new statistics on Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in Transitional Economies (TEs) to analyze the issue of foreign ownership in the banking sector, examining the implications for the host banking sector. After considering the potential benefits and risks associated with...

In the wake of the global crisis the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased its exposure to low- and middle-income countries and boosted the overhaul of its lending approach to enhance its role in preventing crises. This paper tests whether IMF lending has targeted countries most affected...

Temporary and circular migration programs have been devised by many destination countries and supported by the European Commission as a policy to reduce welfare and social costs of immigration in destination countries. In this paper we present an additional reason for proposing temporary...

Migration is an important and yet neglected determinant of institutions. The paper documents the channels through which emigration affects home country institutions and considers dynamic-panel regressions for a large sample of developing countries. We find that emigration and human capital both...

This paper examines how immigration affects native wages by exploiting an unexpected episode of immigrant influx. The episode happened in Hong Kong, when its government unexpectedly relaxed the restriction on immigration from mainland China in 1993, resulting in a seven-fold increase in the net...

A firm\'s export status may improve its capacity of introducing product innovations. We explore this idea using very rich firm-level data on Italian A firm\'s export status may improve its capacity of introducing product innovations. We explore this idea using very rich firm-level data on...

Empirical evidence suggests that sectoral export growth decreases exporters\' survival probability, whereas non{exporters are unaffected. Models with firm heterogeneity in total factor productivity predict the opposite. To solve this puzzle, we develop a two-factor framework where firms differ...

This paper first presents a brief historical overview of immigration in Europe. We then provide (and distinguishing between EU and non-EU immigrants) a comprehensive analysis of the skill structures of immigrants and their labor market integration in the different European countries, their...

While it has long been demonstrated (Rosenzweig and Binswanger, 1993; Banerjee and Newman, 1994) that considerations of risk and uncertainty are key to understand the dynamics leading to and perpetuating poverty, it is only recently that policy makers have taken a more active interest in trying to...