In this paper, the authors investigate the welfare consequences of horizontal mergers and other production relationships between firms based in different nations. They specify the critical share of consumption a nation must represent to veto mergers that raise price and reduce world welfare. The...

Immigrants may expand trade with their country of origin, owing to superior knowledge of, or preferential access to, market opportunities. The authors test this proposition using Canadian trade data with 136 partners from 1980 to 1992. In an augmented gravity equation, they find that a 10...

In an effort to stimulate trade, Canada has conducted regular trade missions starting in 1994, often led by the Prime Minister. According to the Canadian government, these missions generated tens of billions of dollars in new business deals. This paper uses bilateral trade data to assess this...

With increasing sophistication, economists have been estimating gravity equations for five decades. Robust evidence shows that borders and distance impede trade by much more than tariffs or transports costs can explain. We therefore advocate investigation of other sources of resistance, despite...

Empirical studies of bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI) activity show substantial differences in specifications with little agreement on the set of included covariates. We use Bayesian statistical techniques that allow one to select from a large set of candidates those variables most...

Using data on U.S. dumping margin calculations by the U.S. Department of Commerce (USDOC), we first document the rapid rise in U.S. dumping margins from around 15% in the early 1980s to over 60% by 2000. Second, statistical analysis finds that USDOC discretionary practices have played the major...

Competition for firms by region has a long-standing history, and the academic literature has debated whether such competition is efficient. We develop a model that explores technology development by firms facing regional competition for their investment and examine the endogenous determination...

For decades trade economists have modeled imperfect substitution between home and foreign goods in consumption (often called the Armington assumption) with little analysis of what explains the wide variation in these substitution elasticities across sectors. Using a varying coefficients model,...

This paper studies the role of profit taxation for an international firm's decision upon how to penetrate a foreign market - through exports or through foreign direct investment (FDI) and local supply. We show that with harmonized taxes the international firm may choose FDI even though this has...