We assess the role of global value chains in transmitting global integration shocks to aggregate trade, as well as distributional outcomes. We develop a multi-country general equilibrium trade model that features multi-stage production, with different stages having different productivities and...

We survey recent literature on the causes of the collapse in international trade during the 2008-2009 global recession. We argue that the evidence points to the collapse in aggregate expenditure, concentrated on trade-intensive durable goods, as the main driver of the trade collapse. Inventory...

A large empirical literature finds that there is too little international trade, and too much intra-national trade to be rationalized by observed international trade costs such as tariffs and transport costs. The literature uses frameworks in which goods are assumed to be produced in just one...

We develop a Social Distancing Index (SDI) based on a range of mobility metrics from Safegraph geolocation data, and validate the index with mobility data from Google and Unacast. We construct SDIs at the county, MSA, state and nationwide level, and link these measures to indicators of economic...

Language is a fundamental tool for communication of ideas between people, and so is an essential input into production and trade. In general, a society will possess more production and consumption opportunities when all its members share a common language. Neighboring societies and communities...

In this paper the authors study the economic evolution between 1960 and 1995 of two states in India - Maharashtra and West Bengal. In 1960, West Bengal's per capita income exceeded that of Maharashtra. By 1995, it had fallen to just 69 percent of Maharashtra's per capita income. The authors...

For the OECD as whole, as well as for the U.S., manufacturing exports have been rising, while manufacturing output (both expressed as a share of total GDP) has been falling. We examine the prevalence of this puzzling fact across individual OECD countries, as well as for particular sub-industries...