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Trade Liberalization and Growth: Plant-Level Evidence from Switzerland

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  • Bühler, Stefan

    ()

  • Helm, Marco

    ()

  • Lechner, Michael

    ()

Abstract

This paper estimates the effect of trade liberalization on growth, using plant-level data from Switzerland. We employ a natural experiment framework to quantify the effect of a bundle of treaties liberalizing trade between Switzerland and the EU enacted in June 2002 ("Bilateral Agreements I") on the growth of Swiss plants. Using both a semi-parametric difference-indifferences and a matching approach, we find that the liberalization of trade increased the growth of affected plants by 1-2 percent during the first six years after liberalization. Our results suggest that trade liberalization has a relevant effect on growth.

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File URL: http://www1.vwa.unisg.ch/RePEc/usg/econwp/EWP-1133.pdf
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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science in its series Economics Working Paper Series with number 1133.

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Length: 36 pages
Date of creation: Aug 2011
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:usg:econwp:2011:33

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Web page: http://www.seps.unisg.ch/
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Keywords: Trade liberalization; growth; plant size; policy evaluation;

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References

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Cited by:
  1. Buehler, Stefan & Burghardt, Dirk, 2013. "Globalization and Vertical Structure: An Empirical Investigation," Economics Working Paper Series 1310, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.

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