Volker Nitsch Livres

International trade patterns at the product level are surprisingly dynamic. The majority of trade relationships exist for just a few, often only one to three, years. In this paper, I examine empirically the duration in German import trade at the 8-digit product level from 1995 to 2005. I find that survival probabilities are affected by exporter characteristics, product type and market structure. Specifically, I show that the duration of exporting a product to Germany is longer for products obtained from countries that are economically large and geographically close to Germany; for products with large trade value and a low elasticity of substitution; and for trade pairs that command a large share of the German import market and are characterized by two-way trade. -- Survival ; product ; relationship ; pattern

Politicians travel extensively abroad, for various reasons. One purpose of external visits is to improve bilateral economic relations. In this paper, I examine the effect of state visits on international trade. I use a large data set covering the travel activities of the heads of state of France, Germany and the United States between 1948 and 2003. My results indicate that state and official visits are indeed positively correlated with exports. A typical visit is associated with higher bilateral exports by about 8 to 10 per cent, holding other things constant. head ; president ; government ; politics ; gravity

The Group of Eight (G8) is an unofficial forum of the heads of state of the eight leading industrialized countries. In this paper, I examine the effect of the G8 (and its predecessor, the G7) on international trade. I use a gravity model of trade; the panel data set covers bilateral trade between 175 countries from 1948 through 1999. I find that membership in the G7/G8 is consistently associated with a strong positive effect on trade. institution ; organization ; agreement ; international ; multilateral ; summit

A notable feature of literature on "new economic geography" is the strong link between theoretical and empirical work, with theoretical studies increasingly focused on real-world phenomena. Recent empirical work in urban economics, however, suffers from a concentration on only two estimation strategies, often limited by data availability. Most analyses are either cross-country studies seeking rich datasets or single-country studies, frequently centered on U.S. experiences. This book offers a new European perspective, emphasizing the interest in European cities while combining both approaches. It compiles a new dataset covering 13 countries from 1870 to 1990, allowing for exploration of several recently proposed hypotheses. Three main issues are discussed: city growth patterns and their implications for Zipf's law, the relationship between trade openness and urban concentration, and the historical role in city growth. The findings are striking; for instance, there is weak evidence for random growth across cities, and the connection between external trade and internal geography appears tenuous. Additionally, the urban dominance of Vienna post-1918 supports the notion of path dependence in city growth. Overall, the European experience presents a rich source of real-world data awaiting exploration.