We exploit the bilateral and skill dimensions from recent data sets of international migration to test for the existence of Zipf's and Gibrat's Laws in the context of aggregate and high-skilled international immigration and emigration using graphical, parametric and non-parametric analysis. The...

We show that agglomeration forces can reverse standard international-tax-competition results. Closer integration may result first in a race to the top' and then a race to the bottom, a result that is consistent with recent empirical work showing that the tax gap between rich and poor nations...

The objective of this paper is to examine the role of geography in explaining the patterns of financial integration among both developed and developing countries. We investigate the determinants of North-North, North-South and South-North bilateral FDI inflows using a modified gravity model. The...

The collapse and subsequent nationalization of Northern Rock in 2007-08 was the first major run on a UK retail bank since 1866. The Northern Rock case is exemplary on two fronts. First, described at the time of its collapse as an example of an aggressive business model employed by naïve...

This paper examines locational factors that increase the odds of a firm's entry into export markets and affect the intensity of its participation. It differentiates between two different sources of spillovers: clustering of general economic activity and that of export-oriented activity. It also...

This research examines the economic origins of Islam and uncovers two empirical regularities. First, Muslim countries, virtual countries and ethnic groups, exhibit highly unequal regional agricultural endowments. Second, Muslim adherence is systematically larger along the pre-Islamic trade...

We review the literature on the relationship between firm geographic location and corporate finance with an emphasis on corporate governance. We discuss the importance of geographic location within the context of four theoretical frameworks – agency theory of the firm, asymmetric information,...

We provide a new theory and evidence on colonial border formation in Africa. Existing accounts highlight that Europeans unilaterally drew arbitrary international borders in ignorance of local conditions. We instead show that African border formation was a dynamic process that lasted for decades,...