The paper compares the export quality of Italy, Germany, Japan and China. The empirical analysis is based on export unit value for a sample of machinery products exported to the USA over the decade 1996-2006. The results point to four stylised facts. First, Italy, Germany and Japan are...

In this paper the extent of international fragmentation of production in Italian manufacturing industries for the years 1985, 1995 and 2000 is assessed with different indicators. The objective is to determine where fragmentation is most prevalent and to provide a description of the key...

The EU grants preferential access to its imports from developing countries under several trade agreements. The widest arrangement, in terms of country and product coverage, is the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) through which, since 1971, virtually all developing countries have received...

By using a three countries-one-commodity trade model, this paper measures the export earnings instability of LDCs in free trade and in an import tariff distorted equilibrium. Free trade is superior to the policy regime when the instability of LDCs’ exports is less than that observed under the...

The paper investigates the relationship between export earnings instability and economic growth of the open and small developing countries which signed the Lomé Convention (ACP states). It has been empirically shown how export instability lessens the economic performance of these countries....

This paper describes some policy instruments set up by the IMF and the European Union in order to provide financial assistance to developing countries whose economies are affected by exogenous shocks from exports side. After briefly reviewing the IMF’s CFF and the EU’s STABEX, the paper...