The Trade Impact of European Union Preferential Policies - An Analysis Through Gravity Models

The book investigates the EU preferential trade policy and, in particular, the impact it had on trade flows from developing countries. It shows that the capability of the 'trade as aid' model to deliver its expected benefits to these countries crucially differs between preferential schemes and sectors. The book takes an eclectic but rigorous  approach to the econometric analysis by combining different specifications of the gravity model. An in-depth presentation of the gravity model is also included, providing significant insights into the distinctive features of this technique and its state-of-art implementation. The evidence produced in the book is extensively applied to the analysis of the EU preferential policies with substantial suggestions for future improvement. Additional electronic material to replicate the book's analysis (datasets and Gams and Stata 9.0 routines) can be found in the Extra Materials menu on the website of the book.

Luca  De Benedictis received his diplôme d' études supérieures (Degree of Advanced Studies) from the Graduate Institute of International Studies at Geneva and his Ph.D. from the Politechnic University of Marche and is presently Professor  of  international economics at  the  University of Macerata, Italy.  He is the author of several publications on  the empirical analysis of  international trade flows.
Luca  Salvatici  received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Davis and is presently Professor  of  economic  policy  at  the  University of  Roma Tre,  Italy. He previously held positions at La Sapienza University of Roma and University of Molise, and was a consultant  for  the  World Bank  and  the  Food and Agriculture Organization. He is the author of several publications on  the measurement  of  protection  and  on  the  EU policies.