Recent development in international trade theory gives growing emphasis to the quality of the exported products, showing that it affects both the direction of trade and the countries’ export performances. However, as quality is unobservable, a measurement problem clearly emerges. In this paper...

This paper investigates the relationship between the diffusion of EU standards and product quality upgrading using highly disaggregated import data to the EU in the food industry. Results show that, on average, the diffusion of EU voluntary standards boosts the rate of quality upgrading. However...