On the home market effect: theory and empirical evidence

This paper addresses the question of how to discriminate between the H-O paradigm and the C-H-O paradigm of international trade. The test is based on the home-biased expenditure. The model predicts a positive relationshipp between a country''s share of world''s output (in any particular sector) and the country''s share of world''s home-biased expenditure if and only if the sector is characterize4d by IRS and monopolistic competition. The Empirical implementation showed an important but not overwhelming presence of the relationship. Specifically, 55% of the industrial activity could be attributed to the H-O paradigm while 45% could be attributed to the C-H-O paradigm

Home-Biased Demand and International Specialisation: A Test of Trade Theories

No abstract.

On the Home Market Effect: Theory and Empirical Evidence

This paper addresses the question of how to discriminate between the H-O paradigm and the C-H-O paradigm of international trade. The test is based on the home-biased expenditure. The model predicts a positive relationshipp between a country's share of world's output (in any particular sector) and the country's share of world's home-biased expenditure if and only if the sector is characterize4d by IRS and monopolistic competition. The Empirical implementation showed an important but not overwhelming presence of the relationship. Specifically, 55% of the industrial activity could be attributed to the H-O paradigm while 45% could be attributed to the C-H-O paradigm.

Public Expenditure and International Specialisation

We study the impact of home-biased public expenditure on international specialisation in general equilibrium models with increasing returns and monopolistic competition. It is found that home-biased procurement attracts increasing-returns industries to the home country (the "pull" effect) and attenuates the overall degree of industrial specialisation (the "spread" effect). Empirical evidence based on input-output data for the European Union confirms the existence of these links between public expenditure and the location of manufacturing activities.public expenditure; international specialisation; economic geography; European Union; input-output analysis

Home-Biased Demand and International Specialisation : A Test of Trade Theories

We develop and apply a discriminating criterion to distinguish the two principal paradigms of international trade theory: constant-returns perfectly competitive models on the one hand, and increasing-returns monopolistically competitive models on the other. Our criterion rests on the existence of home-biased demand. It predicts a positive relationship between countries' relative output and their relative home bias in increasing-returns sectors, and no relationship in constant-returns sectors. In implementing the test on data for OECD countries we find that industries accounting for up to two thirds of manufacturing output conform to the increasing-returns monopolistically competitive model.international specialisation; home-market effect; increasing returns

A Test of Trade Theories when Expenditure is Home Biased

We develop and apply a criterion to distinguish two paradigms of international trade theory: constant-returns perfectly competitive models, and increasing-returns monopolistically competitive models. Our analysis makes use of the pervasive presence of home-biased expenditure. It predicts that countries' relative output and their relative home biases are positively correlated in increasing-returns sectors, while no such relationship exists in constant-returns sectors. We estimate country-level sectoral home biases through a gravity equation for international and intranational trade, and we use those estimates to implement our test on input-output data for six European Union economies.international specialisation; new trade theory; home-market effects; border effects

A test of trade theories when expenditure is home biased

We develop a criterion to distinguish two dominant paradigms of international trade theory: homogeneous-goods perfectly competitive models, and differentiated-goods monopolistically competitive models. Our analysis makes use of the pervasive presence of home-biased expenditure. It predicts that countries' relative output and their relative home biases are positively correlated in differentiated-goods sectors (the “home-bias effect”), while no such relationship exists in homogeneous-goods sectors. This discriminating criterion turns out to be robust to a number of generalisations of the baseline model. Our empirical results, based on a world-wide cross-country data set, suggest that the differentiated-goods model fits particularly well for the machinery, precision engineering and transport equipment industries, which account for some 40 percent of sample manufacturing output.international specialisation ; new trade theory ; home-market effects ; border effects

Productivity, networks, and export performance: evidence from a cross-country fi rm dataset

This paper uses a newly assembled multi-country multi-industry fi…rm-level dataset to test the effect of productivity and networking on the export probability of …firms. Results are in line with the new-new trade theory and with the literature on the information value of networks. Firms are more likely to export if they are more productive, larger, and if they bene…fit from foreign networks (ownership and …financial linkages), domestic networks (chamber of commerce, links to regulation), and communication networks (E-mail, internet). Firms bear a lower probability of exporting if they have state or labor networks. Overall, …firms with better network connections by one standard deviation enjoy a 15% higher probability of exporting.new-new trade theory; export probability

National Oligopolies and Economic Geography

We replace monopolistic competition with national oligopolies in a model of "new economic geography". There are many possible bifurcation diagrams but, unlike in monopolistic competition, the symmetric equilibrium is always stable for low trade costs. The antitrust policy, though identical in both countries, affects the geographical distribution of firms. In turn, migration attenuates the effectiveness of the antitrust policy in eliminating collusive behavior. For high trade costs a toughening of the antitrust policy is likely to result in more agglomeration and may reduce world welfare. The antitrust policy is more likely to be welfare improving when market integration progresses.Spatial Oligopoly, Antitrust Policy, Welfare

Mechanisms of response of Mesothelial Cells to viral infections: role of epigenetic HDAC1/2 regulation

The main focus of this doctoral thesis is the analysis of the response of mesothelial cells (MCs) to viral infections. As a cellular model we used first primary MCs from patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD). In mammals, the recognition of pathogen infection occurs trough pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs), and among them, Toll-like receptor (TLR) family plays an important role. TLR3 is one of the TLRs associated to the recognition of viral infection and its role in MC plasticity has not been fully clarified yet. Here, we first analysed the TLRs pattern expression in primary MCs from dialyzed patients. We found that they express a specific subset composed by TRL1, TLR2, TLR3 and TLR5. We then, characterized the effects of TLR3 stimulation with Poly(I:C). We observed changes in MC cellular plasticity indicating the occurrence of bona fide mesothelial to mesenchymal transition (MMT), characterized by the acquisition of a spindle-like morphology, loss of epithelial markers and induction of mesenchymal markers, including the EMT master gene Snail. Moreover, Poly(I:C) stimulation promoted the induction of a pro-inflammatory response as shown by secretion of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines such as IL-1β, TNFα, IL-6, CXCL8 and CXCL10. Epigenetic reprogramming is a potentially relevant mechanism governing these changes in MC cell plasticity. Here, we analysed the impact of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition using MS-275, an HDAC1/2 pharmacological inhibitor. Quantitative mass spectrometry analysis revealed several pathways altered by MS-275 treatment, including mesenchymal genes, actin cytoskeleton, extracellular matrix, and type-I interferon response regulation. Results obtained by proteomic analysis were then validated by Western blot analysis. Thus, we confirmed the role of MS-275 in promoting the expression of epithelial markers and in the downregulation of the IFNβ-driven response in Poly(I:C) stimulated MCs, which was linked to STAT1 tyrosine phosphorylation. To directly analyse the effects of viral infections on MCs, we then evaluated the response of a pleura mesothelial cell line, MeT5A cells, to SARS-CoV-2 infection. First, we found that MCs express the specific receptors/coreceptors ACE2, TMPRSS2, NRP1 and ADAM17. Moreover, MeT5A were found responsive to SARS-CoV-2 infection. MeT5A cells reacted to viral stimulation through a specific cytokine expression profile characterized by the predominance of an anti-inflammatory over a pro-inflammatory phenotype. Next, we evaluated the role of HDAC1/2 inhibition in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Treatment with MS-275 favoured SARS-CoV-2 infection and productive replication in MeT5A cells. We provided two different mechanisms by which HDAC1/2 inhibition can cause viral spreading in MCs. We found that MS-275 treatment both induced ACE2 and TMPPRSS2 expression and impaired interferon type-I response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Mechanistically, treatment with MS-275 increased the H3 histone acetylation at ACE2 and TMPRSS2 promoter regions. Last, to find direct evidence of COVID-19 infection in mesothelium, we analysed 4 pleural autoptic samples of COVID-19 patients comparing them with 4 non COVID-19 -infected patients. Immunohistochemical analysis of samples from COVID-19 patients demonstrated a specific alteration of pleura characterized by disruption of the MC monolayer and invasion of the sub-mesothelial stroma by spindle-like MCs, but not evidence of direct MC infection by SARS-CoV-2. Overall, in this study we provided a characterization of changes in MC plasticity upon exposure to virus-related stimuli. Moreover, our data raise a concern on the use of class I HDACs pharmacological inhibitors such as MS-275 and derivatives in immunocompromised patients since they can potentiate SARS-CoV-2 infectivity