We focus on five among the sectors in which most of the CEECs' trade in middle products with EU-15 is concentrated. Over the second half of the 1990s, we observe remarkable changes in both production and trade specialization for new-members as well as a significant relocation of industries...

We provide evidence indicating that countries with well-developed social security systems do not necessarily face a trade-off between social spending and competitiveness. On average, countries that spend a lot on social needs score well in the competitiveness league. We investigate the...

At the end of June 1999 the intra-EU duty free shopping was abolished among the fifteen member nations. The opponents of this resolution argued that such a tax-free sales sector created jobs EU-wide and hardly reduced the value added and excise tax revenue of individual countries. In their...

Most FDI takes place between the developed countries, which suggests that the market-seeking motive is important for understanding FDI. However, given the stylized fact that trade barriers (e.g. transportation costs and financial barriers) have declined over the past 20 years, models that aim to...

This paper, prepared as a chapter of the forthcoming Handbook of International Economic Law (Guzman amp; Sykes, eds.), describes the basic international legal issues raised by regionalism, including the establishment of free trade agreements and customs unions. Its focus is on the WTO law...

Should India's export promotion policies be targeted at accelerating export growth at the extensive (new trading relationships) or at the intensive margin (increase in trade of existing relationships)? To help answer this question, we undertake a comparative study of exports from India and China...

This paper aims to contribute to the literature on New Economic Geography by providing empirical evidence for the connections between new trade theory and the spatial distribution of economic activities. To do this, we apply Social Network Analysis specifically to the World Automotive Trade...

In the last decade, the cooperation and trade relations between Bulgaria and Moldova have marked an upward trend. This is because in recent years many countries have signed the intergovernmental documents on cooperation in various fields, which creates the real premises for improving and...

Das ifo Institut hat im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Technologie die vorliegende Evaluierungsstudie zu den Dimensionen und Auswirkungen eines Freihandelsabkommen zwischen der EU und den USA durchgeführt. Die Studie zeigt, dass ein tiefgreifendes...

This paper studies the evolution of trade freeness and of the agglomeration of production, as well as their relationship, at the sectoral level in a group of EU countries. Our main objective is to test at the sectoral level the conclusions of previous aggregate analyses which find that an...