Using a comprehensive international trade data set we document empirical Power Laws (PLs) for the distribution of the interaction between countries as measured by revealed comparative advantage. Using the recently developed estimator by Gabaix and Ibragimov (2011), we find strong evidence in...

We analyze the costs of trade restrictions for a small developing economy. Capital goods are only introduced on the market if it is profitable to do so. The economy evolves to a balanced growth path in which income, welfare, and the share of introduced capital goods increase if trade...

This five-chapter introduction into international money and foreign exchange markets covers all the basics, theoretical, institutional, as well as empirical. After a brief review of the money market, we discuss the size and structure of the foreign exchange markets. This information is then used...

This four-chapter overview of basic exchange rate theories discusses (i) the elasticity and absorption approach, (ii) the (long-run) implications of the monetary approach, (iii) the short-run effects of monetary and fiscal policy under various economic conditions, and (iv) the transition from...

We propose a quantification of the p-p plot that assigns equal weight to all distances between the respective distributions: the surface between the p-p plot and the diagonal. This surface is labeled the Harmonic Weighted Mass (HWM) index. We introduce the diagonal-deviation (d-d) plot that...

Countries are heterogeneous both internally and externally in many ways, as is widely accepted in the policy arena. The booming literature on firm heterogeneity remains under-developed regarding the degree of firm heterogeneity in developing countries, and the relationship between firm...

We analyze normalized productivity differences for 15 developing Latin American countries and four firm types: National Domestic, National Exporter, Foreign Domestic, and Foreign Exporter. There are no productivity thresholds for viability, export activity, or multinational activity, but we do...

We propose a quantification of the p-p plot that assigns equal weight to all distances between the respective distributions: the surface between the p-p plot and the diagonal. This surface is labelled the Harmonic Weighted Mass (HWM) index. We introduce the diagonal-deviation (d-d) plot that...

We derive and discuss a general, but simple geographical economics model with congestion, allowing us to explain the economic viability of small and large locations. The model generalizes some previous work and lends itself to analyzing the impact of public policy in terms of infrastructure...