The Eastern enlargement of the European Union is significantly increasing the area, where free trade of goods and services are among the core principles of all member countries. Existing economic borders between the applicant countries and the current EU members will have to be broken down,...

We study the gains from trade in a model with endogenously variable markups. We show that the pro-competitive gains from trade are large if the economy is characterized by (i) extensive misallocation, i.e., large inefficiencies associated with markups, and (ii) a weak pattern of cross-country...

The paper retrospectively analyses the issue of the impact of international trade on developed countries' labour markets in the 1990s, when the majority of academic opinion denied the role of trade in the misfortunes of unskilled workers. An analytical framework is proposed in which...

From the beginning of the 1980s, the first theoretical analysis of intra-industry trade showed that the determinants and consequences of this type of trade are different, depending on whether the traded products differ in quality. When the products are subject to intra-industry trade between two...

We use the concept of marginal intra-industry trade (MIIT) to analyse the effect of trade expansion on labour productivity growth across 23 EU countries and 94 manufacturing sectors in 1995-2005. The highest MIIT index values are found in sectors producing differentiated goods as well as in...

The paper provides an explanation of the mechanisms underlying trade roots of the contagion effects emanating from the recent turmoils. It is argued that under demand uncertainty risk averse behavior of firms provides a basis for international trade. The paper shows by means of a simple...

This paper provides a comprehensive description of intra-industry trade patterns and trends, using data on more than 39 million bilateral trade flows. In 2006, 27 percent of global trade was intra-industry if measured at the finest (5-digit) level of statistical aggregation, and 44 percent if...

We study the gains from trade in a model with endogenously variable markups. We show that the pro-competitive gains from trade are large if the economy is characterized by (i) extensive misallocation, i.e., large inefficiencies associated with markups, and (ii) a weak pattern of cross-country...

We study the gains from trade in a model with endogenously variable markups. We show that the pro-competitive gains from trade are large if the economy is characterized by (i) extensive misallocation,i.e., large ineciencies associated with markups, and (ii)a weak pattern of cross-country...

I construct a trade model of empire, and use it to interpret some of the key patterns in the history of European imperialism.  I begin from the observation that trade was a key source of wealth for the colonies, and trade restrictions a key tool of extraction for colonial powers.  But the...