In recent years trade with highly perishable agricultural products like fresh fish, berries, and cut flowers has increased substantially. The perishability of these appears to challenge conventional wisdom when it comes food trade, which emphasizes the importance large shipments reduce transportation costs. this paper, gravity models several margins are estimated for salmon, a product. results ...

We study the causal connection between trade and development using one of the earliest massive trade expansions in prehistory: the first systematic crossing of open seas in the Mediterranean during the time of the Phoenicians. For each point on the coast, we construct the ease with which other points can be reached by crossing open water. This connectivity differs depending on the shape of the ...

In this paper I show that corruption can attenuate the adverse effects of customs-related red tape on firm exports. I first develop a model where exporters use bribes to encourage customs officials to process their documents in an expedited manner. This lowers the delay that they face at customs. The model shows that if the value of the reduced delays is greater than the bribe payment itself, t...

We discuss bootstrap confidence intervals for short-run and long-run demand and supply elasticities for imports and exports. We use Koshal, Shukla and Koirla’s (1992) simultaneous equation demand and supply model for Indian exports based on 1960-1986 data. Although the long run price elasticity of supply is large, (about 25) and significant, the asymptotic as well as bootstrap confidence interv...

Hollywood blockbusters are usually released in the U.S. before other foreign markets. The release gaps have declined significantly over time and varied greatly across countries. While movie piracy has been suggested as an important determinant for the release gap decision of distributors, theory and evidence suggest there are other important determinants. In this paper, we use a discrete choice...

This paper documents patterns in international trade costs in processed foods for a large cross-section of developing and developed countries, during the 1976-2000 period. A trade costs index is inferred from a micro-founded gravity equation that incorporates bilateral ‘iceberg’ trade costs. For 2000, the weighted average tariff equivalent of trade costs ranges from 73% for the North to 134% fo...

This paper examines the extent to which foreign direct investment (FDI) affects child labor. Using 1995 data for 145 countries, we find that, contrary to common fears, FDI is negatively correlated with child labor. This effect, however, disappears when controlling for per capita income. After doing so, we find no robust effect of either FDI or international trade on child labor. This result is ...

Using firm-level data for three Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries and four manufacturing industries, I examine how imports from OECD countries lead to productivity gains for domestic establishments through their knowledge absorption capabilities. I find that domestic firms with technology standards farther away from the international frontier benefit more from trade than those with technology...

The rates at which the sulfhydryl groups on each chain of hemoglobin fi4 react with N-ethylmaleimide and iodoacetate have been measured. The sulfhydryl group at position 93 reacts with both alkylating agents at approximately the same rate as normal liganded hemoglobin. The sulfhydryl group at position 112, which is not available in normal hemoglobin, reacts in hemoglobin f14 and does so much mo...

Previous research has recognized that weak institutions can hamper investments and alter patterns of trade. However, little is known about the impact of institutional quality on offshoring. This is surprising, given that offshoring has become an important part of many firms’ internationalization strategy. This study uses detailed Swedish firm-level data on production and trade in combination wi...