Using data for all exporters, we show that it is a small group of firms that dominate exports in Spain. For example, in 2015 the top 200 firms were responsible for half of Spanish exports. This concentration has not changed substantially over the 1997–2015 period. The dominance of a few firms,...

This paper examines the relationship between trade openness and economic growth in Bangladesh. Contrary to the previous studies we use the data only for the period after the trade liberalization in the early 1990s. Both cointegration and Granger causality analysis are used to find the short-run...

This study estimates the Nigerian import demand function with the view to finding the degree of responsiveness of imports to domestic product prices while controlling for exchange rate (EXR), gross domestic product and foreign reserves. To refine inference about stationarity in the presence of...

Using firm-level data on export transactions, we uncover a rich set of results about the extensive margins of exporting and exporter responses during periods of global downturns. We perform our analysis with respect to firm size, age, ownership status, and sector to emphasize the role of firm...

This chapter reviews the state of the international trade literature on multinational firms. This literature addresses three main questions. First, why do some firms operate in more than one country while others do not? Second, what determines in which countries production facilities are...

This paper investigates the determinants of intra-firm trade of multinational firms located in France, using data on French companies. Results on the vertical pattern of production networks differ according to the affiliates’ location. Lower wage and transportation costs in the developing...

The paper explores theoretically and empirically why trade intermediaries (TIs) are frequently used as agents for exports to some countries but not to others. We adapt a standard intra-industry trade model with variable export costs (e.g. transport) and fixed export costs (e.g. market access) to...

Many empirical papers tested the theoretical predictions of Helpman, Melitz and Yeaple (HMY, 2004) which sorts firms at different internationalization states according to their productivity levels. While these papers ignore the fact, that the theoretical predictions of HMY only apply to firms...

International trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) have grown at fast paces during the last decades. At this point, however, it is not clear whether trade and investment are regarded by firms as complementary ways of accessing other markets, or, instead, if they are employed as alternative...

The decision of companies to enter international markets, either via exports or foreign direct investment (FDI), has been postulated by the self-sorting model of Helpman, Melitz and Yeaple (HMY, 2004). In the strict sense, the theoretical predictions of HMY only apply to firms that become...