The risk of market exit that business firms face is significant and differs widely across countries. This paper explores the links between countries’ business conditions and the exit risk at the country level. We set up a general equilibrium model which allows us to derive sharp predictions...

The robust empirical finding that exporting firms are systematically different from firms that merely serve domestic consumers has inspired the development of a new brand of trade theory, the theory of heterogeneous firms and trade. The establishment of a canonical model due to Melitz (2003) has...

This article reconsiders the linear new economic geography model under heterogeneous agents developed by Tabuchi and Thisse (2002) by applying an analytical technique introduced by Ludema and Wooton (1999). Two problematic aspects are identified: first, the divergence pattern for countries which...

This paper develops an analytically solvable new economic geography model of the ‘footloose entrepreneur’ class in which not only skilled labor is mobile, but also unskilled labor. Allowing unskilled labor to move freely between different regions increases the agglomeration incentive of...

The paper analyzes the impact of skill-biased migration policies under the economics of agglomeration. It therefore develops an agglomeration model with two types of mobile worker who are heterogeneous and differ both within and between skill groups with respect to their migration propensity. On...

This article reconsiders the linear new economic geography model under heterogeneous agents developed by Tabuchi and Thisse (2002) by applying an analytical technique introduced by Ludema and Wooton (1999). Two problematic aspects are identified: first, the divergence pattern for countries which...

The risk of default that business firms face is very significant and differs widely across countries. This paper explores the links between countries’ business conditions and international trade embedment and the default risk at the country level from a theoretical point of view. Our main...

This paper explores the role of country asymmetries for trade and industrial policies with heterogeneous firms. Our analysis delivers a number of novel results. First, trade policies, infrastructure policies and industrial policies which improve the business conditions in one country have...

This paper explores the role of country asymmetries for trade and industrial policies with heterogeneous firms. Our analysis delivers a number of novel results. First, trade policies, infrastructure policies and industrial policies which improve the business conditions in one country have...

This paper develops an analytically solvable new economic geography model in which not only skilled, self-employed labour is mobile, but also the unskilled labour force. Unskilled labour mobility increases the agglomeration incentive of skilled labour and influences the pattern of agglomeration....