Rising current account and merchandise trade imbalances marked the years before the global financial and economic crisis. These imbalances either contributed to or precipitated the crisis and to the extent that they create systemic risks, it is desirable that they be reduced. There are many...

This paper examines the impact of major disasters on trade flows using a gravity model (170 countries, 1962-2004). As a conservative estimate, an additional disaster reduces imports on average by 0.2% and exports by 0.1%. Despite this apparent persistence of bilateral trade volumes, the impact...

Rising current account and merchandise trade imbalances marked the years before the global financial and economic crisis. These imbalances either contributed to or precipitated the crisis and to the extent that they create systemic risks, it is desirable that they be reduced. There are many...