Despite a general agreement that piracy poses a significant threat to maritime shipping, empirical evidence regarding its economic consequences remains scarce. This paper takes a step towards filling the gap by combining firm-level Chinese customs data with information on pirate attacks to...

This dissertation was prepared by Alexander-Nikolai Sandkamp, completed in September 2018 and first published online by LMU Munich in February 2019. It consists of four selfcontained chapters that empirically investigate different trade dampening phenomena using gravity analysis. The first two...

The separation of security and economic objectives in foreign policy, which was often sought in international political issues in the past, has outlived its usefulness. The transition to a more power-based order can be felt around the world. International economic instruments and agreements are...

A growing share of modern trade policy instruments is shaped by non-tariff barriers (NTBs). Based on a structural gravity equation and the recently updated Global Trade Alert database, we empirically investigate the effect of NTBs on imports. Our analysis reveals that the implementation of NTBs...