We study the intermediary role of tour operators in the market for package tourism. Intermediaries often arise in order to facilitate trade in markets characterized by asymmetric information. In the travel industry policy-makers have tried to address information asymmetries by providing hotel...

The annual Eurovision Song Contest provides a setting where Europeans can express their sentiments about other countries without regard to political sensitivities. Analyzing voting data from the 25 contests between 1981-2005, we find strong evidence for the existence of clusters of countries...

The RAE ratings, while intended for allocating research funds to UK universities, are often used as quality indicator by academics and students throughout the world. Yet the same outcome has been criticised as biased in favour of universities that are old, located in England, large and...

We construct a theoretical framework to study the impact of quality standards for used durable goods on trade [fl]ows, pro[fi]ts and consumer welfare. We show that asymmetric quality standards generate trade in used goods from high- to low-standard countries while at the same time reducing trade...

I investigate the welfare effects of trade liberalization by exploiting a natural policy experiment in the economy of Cyprus. A 1993 law relaxed import restrictions on used vehicles and enabled the importation of second-hand Japanese automobiles into the country. This led to a dramatic shift of...

The annual Eurovision Song Contest provides a setting where Europeans can express their sentiments about other countries without regard to political sensitivities. Analyzing voting data from the 25 contests between 1981-2005, we find strong evidence for the existence of clusters of countries...

Is there any empirical evidence that firms become more efficient after becoming exporters? Do firms that become exporters generate positive spillovers for domestically-oriented producers? In this paper we analyze the causal links between exporting and productivity using firm-level panel data...

The number of foreign workers in Cyprus has been increasing sharply in the last 15 years. This paper investigates the impact of foreign workers on unemployment, labour force participation and part-time employment in Cyprus, using data from the EU Labour Force Surveys for the period 1999-2005....

We examine the impact of the very substantial increase in the employment of foreign workers on production, the growth in output and the wages of domestic workers using time series and cross-sectional data. We find that most recent growth in output can be explained by the increase in foreign...