We use comparable micro level panel data for 14 countries and a set of identically specified empirical models to investigate the relationship between exports and productivity. Our overall results are in line with the big picture that is by now familiar from the literature: Exporters are more...

We analyse factors driving ICT adoption at firm level using data from Irish manufacturing firms over the period 2001-2004. Our results indicate that the adoption of ICT has been uneven across firms, industries and space. On average, other things equal, firms with more skilled workers, firms...

Aggregate exports are not very responsive to real exchange rates, though they respond strongly to trade liberalizations, a fact sometimes referred to as the International Elasticity Puzzle. We use micro data on firms and exports for Ireland to dissect the puzzle. Our identification strategy uses...

Is ownership change an opportunity for new owners to make systematic changes in the workforce of the acquired plant? We document changes to the workforce along observable and unobservable dimensions of worker quality around ownership change using matched employer-employee data. We observe above...

We show that in successful episodes of export market entry, there are statistically and economically significant post-entry dynamics of quantities, but no post-entry dynamics of markups. This suggests that shifts in demand play an important role in successful entry, but that firms do not use...

Using plant level data from the Irish Census of Industrial Production, this paper documents the extent of the productivity spread in Irish manufacturing industries and its determinants. It looks at changes in the distribution of productivity over the period 1995-2004 and at movements of plants...

We use comparable micro level panel data for 14 countries and a set of identically specified empirical models to investigate the relationship between exports and productivity. Our overall results are in line with the big picture that is by now familiar from the literature: Exporters are more...

Die Gründungsförderung für Arbeitslose ist inzwischen ein Gebiet zu dem zahlreiche Forschungsergebnisse vorliegen. Das gilt allerdings noch nicht für arbeitslose erwerbsfähige Hilfebedürftige. Seit der Einführung des Sozialgesetzbuches II können sie im Falle der Aufnahme einer...

Few firms import, even when formal trade barriers are low and despite substantial potential gains. Likely reasons are uncertainty and informational frictions, creating scope for local peers to affect new importers. We explore this hypothesis using data on French imports by...