We address the post-entry performance of new Portuguese firms by investigating the structural characteristics survival, using both non-parametric methods and semi-parametric methods, for the seven regions of Portugal (NUT II). We also provide a disaggregated analysis by sector and size class,...

This paper examines the effect of the two most recent European Union enlargements on CEECs trade of intermediate and final products separately. A theoretically justified gravity model which incorporates the extensive margin of trade and accounts for firm heterogeneity is estimated using highly...

In this paper, we study how contract enforcement at the local level affects a firm's ability to supply customised intermediate inputs to foreign firms. Using Italian firm-level data, we show that firms located in courts with higher judicial trial length in civil disputes, which is our measure of...

There is strong empirical evidence that countries with lower per capita income tend to have smaller trade volumes even after controlling for aggregate income. Furthermore, poorer countries do not just trade less, but have a lower number of trading partners. In this paper, I construct and...

We propose a structural alternative to the Economic Complexity Index (ECI, Hidalgo and Hausmann 2009; Hausmann et al. 2011) that ranks countries by their complexity. This ranking is tied to comparative advantages. Hence, it reveals information different from GDP per capita on the deep underlying...

I compute distances used in the gravity model of international trade that improve the existing measures along multiple lines and help remedy the border puzzle by up to 50%. I derive a trade cost aggregation that is agnostic to the underlying gravity framework while taking into account the...

Disorderly debt restructurings can be detrimental for debtor countries and creditors alike. This paper investigates delays in sovereign debt restructurings using a comprehensive new dataset since 1980. Why are some debt crises settled in just a few months, while others take many years? Have...

The time-continuous discrete-state Markov process is a model for rating transitions. One parameter, namely the intensity to migrate to an adjacent rating state, implies an ordinal rating to have an intuitive metric. State-specific intensities generalize the state-stationarity. Observing Markov...

This paper investigates whether the stepping stone effect of temporary agency employment moves over the business cycle. Using German administrative data for the period 1985-2012 and an estimation framework based on the timing-events model, we construct a time series of in-treatment and...