This volume was prepared by Benedikt Heid while he was working at the ifo Institute and the University of Bayreuth. It was completed in December 2013 and accepted as a doctoral thesis by the Department of Economics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. It includes six self-contained...

The thesis consists of three empirical essays on trade, specialization and development. The first chapter studies the impact of greater economic integration (namely monetary unions) on trade, specialization and location of firms. Cost reductions due to greater economic integration may have...