We estimate CO2 implicitly contained in traded commodities based on the GTAP 7 data: While net carbon imports into the industrialized countries amount to 15% of their total emissions, net carbon exports of the developing countries amount to 12% of their total emissions, and net carbon exports of...

We use unique plant-level data to study the link between the local availability of services and the decision of manufacturing firms to source materials from abroad. To guide our empirical analysis we develop a monopolitic-competition model of the materials sourcing decisions of heterogeneous...

The previous literature provides a highly ambiguous picture on the impact of trade and investment agreements on FDI. Most empirical studies ignore the actual content of BITs and RTAs, treating them as "black boxes", despite the diversity of investment provisions constituting the essence of these...

Economic sanctions are a frequent instrument of foreign policy. In a diplomatic conflict, they aim to elicit a change in the policies of foreign governments by damaging their economy. However, sanctions are not costless for the sending economy, where domestic firms involved in business with the...

The paper develops a simple theoretical model of inventory control in global supply chains. It identifies a role for intermediaries in managing inventory, and shows that inserting an intermediary as an additional link in a supply chain is profitable when demand volatility is high. It also...

The traditional trade theory predicts that trade in goods perfectly substitutes for direct movement of factors. This equivalence between goods trade and factor movements, however, depends crucially on assumptions about the production. This paper establishes necessary and sufficient conditions...

Biofuels are promoted by politics in more and more countries worldwide. This is being justified by positive effects on the climate, energy, and agricultural policy. The paper describes the current and future markets for biofuels and the existing biofuel programs in single countries. It analyzes...

In early 2020, the disease Covid-19 caused a drastic lockdown of the Chinese economy. We use a quantitative trade model with input-output linkages to gauge the effects of this adverse supply shock in China on the global economy through international trade and global value chains (GVCs). We find...

Does distance matter for the volatility of international real and financial transactions? We show that it does, in addition to its well-established relevance for the level of trade. A simple model of trade with endogenous markups shows that demand shocks have a larger impact on trade between...