The failure of trade economists to anticipate the extreme drop in trade post Lehman Brothers bankruptcy suggests that the behavior of trade in exceptional circumstances may still be poorly understood. This paper explores whether uncertainty shocks have explanatory power for movements in trade....

This paper evaluates the impact of the rise of large emerging manufacturing exporters such as China and India on economic growth in advanced countries. After illustrating the possible theoretical channels, I estimate a growth regression based on 3-year average data augmented with...

This paper examines the impact of the emergence of regional blocs (customs unions) on the patterns of inter-bloc and intra-bloc trade when firms have the option to engage in direct investment (FDI). The consequences of bloc formation for exogenously given external tariffs is examined first. When...

This paper surveys the rapidly growing theoretical literature on international environmental agreements. The surveyed contributions are classified according to the conceivable strategies to create incentives for the participation in and compliance with environmental conventions. The proposed...

This paper examines the migration and labor mobility in the European Union and elaborates on their importance for the existence of the EU. Against all measures of success, the current public debate seems to suggest that the political consensus that migration is beneficial is broken. This comes...

In der Europäischen Union wird immer wieder die Solidarität zwischen den Mitgliedstaaten hervorgehoben oder eingefordert. Das manifestiert sich aktuell sowohl mit der Flüchtlingskrise als auch mit Forderungen nach einer Vertiefung der Europäischen Währungsunion. Dies legt nahe, der Frage...

The euro area has several problems. Nevertheless, there is not only strong political support for it, but also most companies back the euro or at least do not complain. It is worthwhile to analyse which companies do profit from the euro and why most others do not oppose it. Exporting companies in...

In this paper we present an occupational choice model for entrepreneurs, in which, based on their individual skills and on the quality of their business, entrepreneurs can keep their original business, open a new business in the same or another sector along the current business (portfolio...

This paper provides a historical background to contemporary debates on the international monetary system: their genesis, similarities, and differences of problems it has faced at different times. It looks sequentially at the design of the Bretton Woods system; the tensions it faced since the...

Greater international economic interconnectedness over recent decades has been changing inflation dynamics. This paper presents evidence that the expansion of global value chains (GVCs), ie cross-border trade in intermediate goods and services, is an important channel through which global...