The paper provides an explanation of the mechanisms underlying trade roots of the contagion effects emanating from the recent turmoils. It is argued that under demand uncertainty risk averse behavior of firms provides a basis for international trade. The paper shows by means of a simple...

The paper presents a formal study of how risk aversion can be applied to analysis of international trade. It seeks to illustrate, amongst other things, that risk-averse firms operating in perfectly competitive markets with uncertainty of demand tend to diversify markets and that this provides...