Economic growth theory predicts more success for North-South than for South-South agreements. We compare the speed of convergence of the North-South area NAFTA with that of the South-South area SICA and the one of the MERCOSUR. We apply GSL fixed effects and a random effects regression with the...

In the struggle between the forces of free trade and the restrictive influence of insularism the latter recently seems to have the upper hand. This is illustrated by the referendum of June 23, 2016 where the United Kingdom (UK) voted to leave the European Union (EU). In this paper we evaluate...

In the struggle between the forces of free trade and the restrictive influence of insularism the latter recently seems to have the upper hand. This is illustrated by the referendum of June 23, 2016 where the United Kingdom (UK) voted to leave the Europea+n Union (EU). In this paper we evaluate...

Does trade improve institutions and contribute to long run growth? I develop a theory of trade, in which trade liberalization provides incentive to change institutions in two ways. On the one hand, trade leads to specialization according to comparative advantage, expanding the industries that do...

We construct and estimate a unified model combining three of the main sources of cross-country income disparities: differences in factor endowments, barriers to technology adoption and the inappropriateness of frontier technologies to local conditions. The key components are different types of...

We construct and estimate a unified model combining three of the main sources of cross-country income disparities: differences in factor endowments, barriers to technology adoption and the inappropriateness of frontier technologies to local conditions. The key components are different types of...

Some of the new trade and economic geography theory findings are quite critical concerning the so called South-South-agreements. This study contributes to this discussion by means of an empirical analysis of a representative set of South-South integration areas. Sperlich and Sperlich (2011) have...