We analyse factors driving inter- and intra-firm diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) using data from Irish manufacturing firms over the period 2001 to 2004. We find that the path of ICT diffusion has been uneven across firms, industries and space, which is consistent...

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...

We analyse common stylized facts of services firms engaged in trade in a comparative study across four EU member countries. We find that, though relatively less engaged in trade than manufacturing firms, services firms have similar traits. Services firms are more likely to import than to export....

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...

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...

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 study the impact of the Brexit referendum on Irish exporters to the UK. The referendum triggered a sharp devaluation of the British pound vis-a-vis the euro and led to considerable uncertainty about future trade relations between the UK and the EU. Using administrative data on the universe of...

We examine the determinants of firm's current environmental expenditure and firm's capital investment in equipment for pollution control using a Heckman selection model. As regards current environmental expenditure, we find that larger, exporting firms and firms subject to the Integrated...

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...

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...