Technological progress is a major prerequisite for economic growth and increases in per-capita incomes. The importance of knowledge flows from abroad is constantly growing in the course of globalization. Particularly in developing countries, imports of high-technology goods, requiring a high...

The international transmission of knowledge through import spillovers, as a source of TFP growth, has received much attention in the literature. We investigate two additional direct channels through which R&D disseminates: the import of high-technology goods and the internationalization of...

The strong reliance of the German economy on the industry sector has been a point of criticism for years now. Germany is too strongly focused on export, making it susceptible to crises and fluctuations in demand and exchange rates, the critics allege. A non-critical look at the numbers during...

Jahrelang wurde die starke industrielle Ausrichtung der deutschen Wirtschaft moniert. Deutschland sei zu stark exportorientiert, zu anfällig für Krisen, Nachfrage- und Wechselkursschwankungen, so die Kritik. Ein oberflächlicher Blick auf die Daten der jüngsten Wirtschaftskrise scheint die...

The number of free trade agreements has increased substantially since 1980 despite efforts to promote multilateral trade liberalization. While there is evidence on the determinants of FTA formation, still little is known on the processing of trade agreements, particularly regarding the...

The contributors expertly provide a comparative perspective on regional integration in different regions of the world while at the same time analysing the various facets of integration, relating to trade, FDI, finance and monetary policies. They provide a comprehensive treatment of the subject...

This paper analyzes whether and to what extent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) outperform official donors by allocating aid in a way that renders effective poverty alleviation more likely. We employ Probit and Tobit models and make use of an exceptionally detailed database that allows an...

Regional integration is often considered a means to improve member countries’ attractiveness to foreign direct investment (FDI). But regional integration agreements (RIAs) as well as FDI are too diverse to allow for generalized verdicts. Our case studies on Mercosur in Latin America, ASEAN and...

Nearly 60 percent of globally traded industrial goods are R&D-intensive. Two fifths are goods with very high research intensity (cutting-edge technology), while the remaining three fifths are goods with high research intensity (high-level technology).1 Up until the 1990s, the USA was the global...