Economic convergence of the new member states (NMS) of the EU towards the old EU countries (EU-15), not only in terms of real income, but also in nominal terms, is of paramount importance for the whole of the EU. We build a dynamic CGE model, starting from the Balassa-Samuelson two-sector...

We propose a new way to measure the extent to which countries compete in their exports. We augment the similarity index proposed by Finger and Kreinin (1979) with product quality. Quality is measured using unit export prices in the tradition of the horizontal/vertical intra-industry trade...

We use the concept of marginal intra-industry trade (MIIT) to analyse the effect of trade expansion on labour productivity growth across 23 EU countries and 94 manufacturing sectors in 1995-2005. The highest MIIT index values are found in sectors producing differentiated goods as well as in...

The report looks at investment activity in Finland by industries and types of investment, and makes international comparisons. Investment rate (fixed investment in relation to GDP) fell in Finland in the early 1990s from an internationally high level to the average West European rate. Among key...

We analyse foreign-owned companies operating in Finland and compare them with domestic non-multinational firms while controlling separately for domestic multinational firms. The statistical and micro-econometric analysis is done using Statistics Finland data that contain all firms with at least...

We analyse common stylized facts of services firms engaged in trade in a comparative study across four EU member countries. We find that, though relatively less engaged in trade than manufacturing firms, services firms have similar traits. Services firms are more likely to import than to export....

We establish a set of stylised facts for trade and trading firms in five market services sectors using comparable firm-level and services data from four EU countries. Our analysis shows that exports account for much lower shares of overall sales in the services sectors than in manufacturing. In...

We analyse the exports of industrialised countries in the 1996-2006 period. First, there is a short discussion of the theory of international trade and its recent theoretical developments. After that we have analysed the long-run development of the structure of Finnish exports, and its structure...

Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan suomalaisten yritysten kokemuksia ja tule-vaisuuden liiketoimintanäkymiä Puolassa. Tutkimuksessa arvioidaan ensin Puolan talouden tilaa ja kehityssuuntaa. Tämän jälkeen analysoidaan tekemämme yrityskyselyn tulokset. Ky-sely suunnattiin Puolan markkinoilla...

We analyse the implications of free trade between the EU25 and Russia using GTAP, a computable general equilibrium model. We review the sectoral effects by countries and make a tentative assessment of the impact on the regions in northwest Russia. Free trade on its own would have a negative...