Do nonreciprocal preference regimes increase exports?

This paper investigates whether and to what extent nonreciprocal preference regimes have increased developing countries’ exports to richer countries. Moreover, it analyzes how they have affected donors’ exports to beneficiary countries. Using recent developments in the econometric analysis of the gravity equation over the period 1990-2008, we find robust evidence that, on the whole, nonreciprocal preference regimes and GSP schemes have had an economically significant effect on exports from developing countries. However, the estimation of catch-all dummies masks heterogeneous results for the individual schemes. Finally, we find that nonreciprocal regimes have also increased exports from donors to beneficiary countries.

Export market integration in the European Union

This paper examines the degree and recent evolution (1988-2001) of export-price dispersion among European Union countries. It also explores the effect of exchange rates on exportprice dispersion by reviewing the experience of some European countries that participated in the exchange rate stability zone. The results indicate that export-price dispersion across European Union countries was usually lower than across OECD countries. Moreover, although there is little evidence of convergence, this is stronger across European Union countries. Finally, even though price dispersion was often lower across European Union countries where exchange rates have been relatively stable than across countries with relatively volatile exchange rates, exchange-rate stability has not significantly contributed to export-price convergence across participating countries over the sample period.export market integration, European Union, exchange rates

Do nonreciprocal preference regimes increase exports?

This paper investigates whether and to what extent nonreciprocal preference regimes have increased developing countries' exports to richer countries. Moreover, it analyzes how they have affected donors' exports to beneficiary countries. Using recent developments in the econometric analysis of the gravity equation over the period 1990-2008, we find robust evidence that, on the whole, nonreciprocal preference regimes and GSP schemes have had an economically significant effect on exports from developing countries. However, the estimation of catch-all dummies masks heterogeneous results for the individual schemes. Finally, we find that nonreciprocal regimes have also increased exports from donors to beneficiary countries

Price convergence in the European car market

This paper examines price convergence in the European Union car market over the period 1995-2005. We find that there is a clear evidence of price convergence among the EU15 countries, but not before 1999. Moreover, countries of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) started convergence previously to the EU15 as a whole. Finally, exchange rate changes have significantly contributed to price dispersion over time across countries. The results provide significant evidence that trade liberalization and the EMU have enhanced the process of regional integration in the European automobile industry, even though there is room for further measures to promote integration

IS THERE A CONTINENTAL BIAS IN TRADE?

The relationship between geography and trade is a central topic in international economics. This paper investigates the potential existence of a continental bias in world trade flows on a sample of 182 countries over the period 1990-2006. Using traditional estimation techniques and recent developments in the econometric analysis of the gravity equation, we find robust evidence of an economically significant continental bias in trade. It implies that, other things equal, countries located on the same continent trade more with each other than countries located on different continents. A continent-by-continent analysis reveals that Oceania, America, Europe and Asia are behind this result. Africa is the only region for which the results are not conclusive

Does the GATT/WTO promote trade? After all, Rose was right

This paper re-examines the efect of the GATT/WTO on trade using recent econometric developments that allow us estimating structural gravity equations with the Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood (PPML) estimator on a large dataset that requires computing high-dimensional fxed efects. By doing so, we overcome computational limitations that are present in previous studies. In line with Rose's (Am Econ Rev 94:98-114, 2004) seminal work, we fnd that, unlike regional trade agreements and currency unions, the GATT/WTO accession has not generated positive trade efects. This result is robust to the use of alternative measures of trade fows, across periods and country groups, to changes in the periodicity of the data, when taking into account the GATT/WTO accession dynamics, to controlling for the participation of only one country of the dyad in GATT/WTO, to the consideration of non-member participants, and to the use of alternative datasets. Notwithstanding, we also find that PPML results are sensitive to the defnition of the dependent variable

Convergence in car prices among European countries

This article contributes to the literature on price convergence in Europe by investigating the existence of stochastic and deterministic convergence of car prices in the EU15 countries. We apply recently developed econometric techniques that allow for multiple structural breaks to an up-to-date dataset. We find considerable evidence of both types of convergence in our sample of countries and car models, therefore suggesting a tendency for relative prices to equalize over time. In addition, we find evidence regarding the importance in this convergence process of both legislative changes taking place in the years 1996 and 2002, and the implementation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)

EMU and Trade : A PPML re-assessment with intra-national trade flows

Since Rose's (2000) path-breaking study, a lot of studies have been carried out on the effect of currency unions on trade. Both Rose's striking finding that sharing a currency union more than triples trade between countries and the creation of the euro have propelled an intense debate on this issue and, in particular, about the effect of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on trade. More than 50 papers have examined the effect of EMU on bilateral trade flows given that it is, by far, the most important monetary union. However, so far the results vary greatly across studies and even the most recent articles provide mixed results. Whereas Glick and Rose (2016) and Larch, Wanner, and Yotov (2018) find a positive EMU effect on trade, Mika and Zymek (2018) and Larch, Wanner, Yotov, and Zylkin (2019) provide no evidence of a positive effect on trade. Therefore, the debate is still ongoing

Regional headquarters and foreign direct investment

Headquarters (HQs) provide a wide range of services, playing a fundamental role in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). We use the structural gravity equation to investigate the effect of regional HQs on three dimensions of FDI (number of foreign projects, capital investment, and jobs) at the country-pair-sector level. Furthermore, we explore two underlying mechanisms that help explain this relationship: financial constraints and informational costs and uncertainty. We find a positive effect of regional HQs on FDI, as well as intercountry and intersector spillovers. Our results are robust, accounting for HQ intensity, domestic investment, and endogeneity tests