In this paper I present a statistical analysis of some macroeconomic data that can shed more light on the causes of the low inflation rate that we registered in the Euro area during the last years. I focus on both the globalization and the labour market for their importance, as external and...

This paper presents results based on a recent South African firm-level survey. It examines the export behaviour of South African manufacturing firms, it attempts to characterise the decision to export and it also considers the destination of exports.

This article discusses the prospects and problems facing Italian small and medium sized enterprises that have recently engaged in direct investment through the establishment of production facilities in China and India. Using data gathered from 15 interviews conducted in those countries in 2009,...

How effective are direct government policies for boosting exports? We answer this question with a structured overview of 34 studies covering 26 countries around the world, and in doing so, we provide nine findings. We show export boosting policies are heterogenenous by design and include export...

The paper proposes a new way of analysing the efficiency of dynamic market selection, based on the persistence of scale economies. The new methodology is used to investigate the causes of stagnating productivity growth in EU business services. An efficient market ensures that more productive...

The new heterogeneous firm models in international economics suggest a negative impact of trade openness on the within-sector disparities, due to a restructuring process leading to a resources reallocation toward high efficient firms and the exit of less productive ones. I test this hypothesis...

Using China Customs data that cover monthly transactions of all Chinese exporters, we investigate how Chinese exporters respond to U.S. antidumping investigations during the 2000-2006 period. Our difference-in-differences analysis uncovers a number of findings: (1) the substantial...

Italian firms have recently engaged in direct investment abroad through the establishment of production facilities in China and India. Using data gathered from interviews conducted in those countries in 2009 with 16 Italian predominantly small and medium-sized firms, this article explores: the...

This paper generalizes recent work for India which shows that the use of imported intermediates is associated with the creation of new product varieties by domestic firms. It uses firm-level data for 17 developing countries and 13 sectors to show that firms that source their inputs...

In this paper the author examine the effect of imports, and exports on service sector productivity of Ghana for the period 1970-2013, using annual time series data. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller test (ADF), and the KwiatKowski (KPSS) test were used for the assessment of the effect of external...