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...

The accelerated growth of the service sector is one of the characteristics of the actual pattern of global growth. In Brazil, it is possible to point to a move towards a 'service economy' following the global standard. However, it cannot say that Brazil is regionally services intensive, ie, the...

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...

This paper estimates the effect of air transport on local production in the manufacturing and service sectors. The analysis is conducted using data from the United States. These effects are important for the design of policies that aim to develop an airport or to otherwise attract airlines to...

It is assumed in new trade theory and new economic geography that the supply of labor is fixed, which is not true in real labor markets. We develop a model of new trade theory by incorporating an elastic labor supply and analyze the impacts of technological progress on the equilibrium outcomes...

In previous research, we analysed the effect of technological innovation, understood as absorptive capacity, on exports by using a gravity model of trade for the year 2000 (see Márquez-Ramos and Martínez-Zarzoso, 2009). We found that the effect of technological innovation on trade varies...

Rapid changes in technology, integration and specialization of individual economies reinforce trade motives and the consequences of integration into the world trade system. The Visegrad countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) have undergone fundamental structural changes in...

This paper empirically examines the heterogeneity in the effects of multiple dimensions of distance on trade across detailed product groups. Using finite mixture modelling on bilateral trade data at the 3-digit SITC level, we endogenously group product categories into an, a priori unknown,...

This paper provides evidence that labor reallocation from the manufacturing into the non-manufacturing sector causes an increase in sorting of high-skilled (low-skilled) workers into high-paying (low-paying) firms and thereby triggers a rise in wage inequality. I use data on 50% of all West...

In the last two decades, due to falling barriers to trade and investment, the world economic scenario has profoundly changed. Few rich countries (United States, Great Britain, France, Japan, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands) have been securing a substantial stake in worldwide production...