This paper modifies the heterogenous firms and trade model by Melitz (2003) by explicitly modelling the beachhead cost of a firm in a new market as a function of market size. This leads to several new predictions compared to the standard model. In particular, the productivity of non exporters...

We study the evolution of the global arms trade network using a unique dataset on all international transfers of major conventional weapons over the period 1950-2007. First, we provide a careful description of the characteristics of global arms trade using tools from social network analysis....

Intermediaries and wholesalers play an important role in international trade. This paper develops a model of international trade with heterogeneous firms that offers an explanation of the existence of wholesalers. All exporting firms have to pay a fixed cost of establishing a distribution...

We develop a model of outsourcing and trade in service inputs where the scope of tasks produced by both manufacturing firms and service providers is endogeneous. Manufacturing firms have to perform a fixed set of tasks in order to produce their final good but can decide to outsource some of...

Data on the growth performances of countries with similar comparative (dis)advantage and political institutions reveal a striking variation across world regions. While some former autocracies such as the East Asian growth miracles have done remarkably well, others such as the Latin American...

Does adoption of broadband internet in firms enhance labor productivity and increase wages? And is this technological change skill biased or factor neutral? We exploit rich Norwegian data with firm-level information on value added, factor inputs and broadband adoption to answer these questions....

This paper develops a theoretical model of trade and environmental emissions with heterogeneous firms, where firms make abatement investments and thereby affect their level of emissions. We show that investments in abatement are positively related to firm productivity and firm exports, while...

This paper compares the effect of economic integration on industry location for a small country that goes ahead with an integration process, such as the European, and a country adopting a wait and see strategy. Theoretical results, derived from a three-region new economic geography model, are...

A simple N-country specific-factor model with imperfectly mobile labour is developed. It is shown that effects of country-specific productivity shocks hitting a small country are fundamentally asymmetric. A positive shock will be accomodated by a moderate wage increase and sizable in-migration,...

This paper first presents stylised evidence showing how the date of the introduction of competition policy is correlated with country size. Smaller countries tend to adopt competition policy later. We thereafter present a simple theoretical model with countries of different size and firms...