We develop a simple estimation procedure for general equilibrium (GE) comparative static analysis of gravity models. Non-linear solvers of estimated models are replaced by (constrained) regressions. Applied economists can more readily generate results, with more intuition about the working of...

China has defied the declining trend in domestic content in exports in many countries. We study China’s rising domestic content in exports using firm- and customs transaction-level data. Our approach embraces firm heterogeneity and hence reduces aggregation bias. We find that the substitution...

Welfare gains from increasing product variety are an important source of the gains from international trade. Recent empirical studies have largely focused on measuring the gains from an increased variety of imports. Trade theory, however, suggests that international trade heavily affects the...

Findings from the literature suggest that previous estimates of the variety gains from trade are too small because of the imprecise measurement of the imported variety set under the Armington assumption. In this contribution, I use results from the literature on multi-product firms to obtain...

In this paper, we study how contract enforcement at the local level affects a firm's ability to supply customised intermediate inputs to foreign firms. Using Italian firm-level data, we show that firms located in courts with higher judicial trial length in civil disputes, which is our measure of...

This paper compares various estimation techniques used to determine the impact of distance and borders on international trade. The results consistently confirm the significantly negative distance effect, while the border effect, measured by evaluating whether intra-continental trade exceeds...

Before the millennium Hungary's market share in exports of goods was increasing at the fastest rate in Central and Eastern Europe; however, after 2000 that growth became the lowest. The slowdown in growth in Hungary's export market share is mainly due to the stagnating price index of goods...

In this paper we develop a methodology which is based on two important criteria - sensitivity in delivery time and value-to-weight ratio - to classify products relevant for air transport. Detailed trade data by mode of transport are used to check the loading of an average airplane between South...

What drives firms' geographic diversification in international markets? I build a model to show that if some export costs are sunk and shared between alike destinations, the decision of a firm to enter a market is a function of its experience in a similar one. Using a rich firm-level dataset for...

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the role that financial constraints play in shaping firms' export activities. We use custom information on cross borders transactions for Italian firms, together with an informative measure of financing constraints based on an official credit...