This paper assesses the economic impacts of the Swiss climate policy formulated under the Kyoto Protocol; the impacts on the carbon price, the welfare cost, and trade effects are examined. Our analysis is based on a multi-sectoral and multi-regional, computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the world economy (GEMINI-E3) which includes a representation of the Swiss economy. The model is use...

This paper studies the relationship between intellectual property rights (IPR) and the entry modes decision by multinational firms. A model is developed allowing firms to choose among export, foreign direct investment (FDI), and licensing. Firms in the recipient country may imitate the technology, and their abilities to do so depend both on the nature of each mode and on the level of IPR protec...

I investigate the long-run implications of trade and technology diffusion through trade, when firms are heterogeneous and trade is costly. The paper integrates firm heterogeneity and trade into product innovation growth models from endogenous growth theory. Two specifications of the R&D process are considered. In the first, R&D uses labor and intermediate goods; in the second, it uses labor and...

An important element of the cost of distance is time taken in delivering final and intermediate goods. We argue that time costs are qualitatively different from direct monetary costs such as freight charges. The difference arises because of uncertainty. Unsynchronised deliveries can disrupt production, and delivery time can force producers to order components before demand and cost uncertaintie...

Article history: Received 21 September 2008 Received in revised form 15 February 2009 Accepted 25 March 2009 Available online 7 April 2009 A new measure of factor intensity and abundance from trade theory is utilized to predict potential trade and income redistribution between traditional and modern economies in the Gulf Cooperation Council. Differences in labor skill intensity and abundance su...

This paper develops a monopolistic competition model with heterogeneous firms to study the interaction between technology adoption and trade in a world of two countries facing different technology adoption costs. It shows that a reduction in the technology adoption cost in one country increases the productivity, induces more firms to adopt advanced technology, and improves welfare in this count...

This paper focuses on the question of whether labour standards can affect comparative advantage in unskilled-labour-intensive goods, and thereby influence trade flows. Using a Heckscher-Ohlin framework, the effects of low labour standards depend on the type of standard: Forced and child labour lead to an increase in the endowment of unskilled labour, and hence improve comparative advantage in u...

We study the case where parallel trade (PT) stems from government price controls in a foreign country. We remove the presumption that PT blunts dynamic efficiency if the government has partial commitment ability. We model the R&D firm’s option to serve the foreign country, and find that PT may improve quality, depending on preferences for quality. Improving quality may be a sufficient condition...

Using a unique firm level data set from the Chinese manufacturing sector, this paper analyses the impact of production subsidies on firms’ export performance. It documents robust evidence that production subsidies stimulate export activity, although this effect is conditional on firm characteristics. In particular, the beneficial impact of subsidies is found to be more pronounced amongst profit...

We examine micro-level channels of how financial development can affect macroeconomic outcomes like the level of income and export intensity. We investigate theoretically and empirically how financial constraints affect a firm’s innovation and export activities, using unique firm survey data which provides direct measures for innovations and firm-specific financial constraints. We find that fin...