Does trade improve the income levels of the poor and less developed nations? Focusing on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) designated by the United Nations, we construct a new measure of trade cost, based on the Baltic Dry Index (BDI), as an instrument for trade. The BDI reflects the cost of...

Despite the onset of globalization, year-by-year cross-country regressions of the gravity model usually suggest that the impediment of geographical distance on bilateral trade is rising, and not declining, over time. This effect of distance is dubbed the distance puzzle. In this paper, we argue...

Previous studies on the role of FTAs in promoting members' international trade have usually focused on FTA premium, ignoring the difference between selection effects - trade developments before the formation of FTAs - and "learning" effects - trade growth after the formation of FTAs. This paper...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there are any systematic relationships between the characteristics of each study about immigrants' pro-trade impacts and its results. Design/methodology/approach – A meta-analysis of 24 papers and 184 estimates that study the...

This paper uses a large sample of Chinese cross-section firm-level data with comprehensive information about labour quality to investigate the relationship between labour quality and FDI distribution in China. Using parametric, IV-GMM and non-parametric techniques, the author finds that labour...

In their seminal paper, Brückner and Ciccone (2011) document that a significant effect of democratic change may be triggered by negative transitory economic shocks, and that rainfall can open a democratic window of opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). As a complement, this paper uses...

type="main" xml:id="ecot12053-abs-0001" xml:lang="en" <title type="main">Abstract</title> <p>This paper examines the causal effect that trade openness has on government size in small developing countries (SDCs). We use the construction of the trade cost variables based on Baltic Dry Index in primary goods as instruments of...</p>

We estimate the effect of exports on HIV incidence for sub-Saharan African countries, using an instrument related to the Baltic Dry Index. We find that a doubling of exports per capita could increase HIV incidence by about 55% on average.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there are any systematic relationships between the characteristics of each study about immigrants' pro‐trade impacts and its results. Design/methodology/approach – A meta‐analysis of 24 papers and 184 estimates that study the...

Previous studies on the role of FTAs in promoting members’ international trade have usually focused on FTA premium, ignoring the difference between selection effects – trade developments before the formation of FTAs – and “learning†effects – trade growth...