Institutions, such as contract enforcements and rule of law, are arguably one of the most important determinants of economic development. This paper exploits the insight into the relation between geography and economies of scale and investigates how the market size and international trade affect...

This paper analyses to which extent domestic institutions affect trade flows. We use two complementary approaches, one focusing on the size of total trade flows and one focusing on bilateral trade patterns (gravity equation). Besides, we control for two other domestic policy variables: trade...

The past literature presents ambiguous evidence about the bidirectional and causal influences between countries ́institutional framework and their trading activity. In our analysis, we investigate the relationship between institutions and trade constructing a measure of institutions from the...

We propose and apply methods to quantify the impact of national institutions on international trade and development. We are able to identify the direct impact of country-specific institutions on international trade within the structural gravity framework. Our approach naturally addresses the...

Does the dramatic rise of the number of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) world-wide make economic sanctions more likely through increasing the leverage of the powerful and pitting states against each other in competition (power) or less likely through increasing the benefits of trade,...