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on International Activities of Firms |
| By: | Wagner, Joachim (Leuphana University Lüneburg) |
| Abstract: | The use of artificial intelligence (AI) goes hand in hand with higher productivity, higher product quality, and lower trade costs. Therefore, it can be expected to be positively related to export activities. This paper uses firm-level data from 12 member countries of the Euro Area collected in 2025 to shed further light on this issue by investigating the link between the intensity of use of AI and the intensive margins of exports measured as the percentage share of exports in total sales. Applying a new machine-learning estimator, Kernel-Regularized Least Squares (KRLS), which does not impose any restrictive assumptions for the functional form of the relation between margin of exports, the intensity of use of AI and any control variables, we find that firms which use AI more intensively do export a higher share of total sales. AI intensity and export intensity are positively related. |
| Keywords: | artificial intelligence, exports, firm level data, SAFE Data, kernel-regularized least squares (KRLS) |
| JEL: | D22 F14 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18939 |
| By: | Gustaf Dillner; Rebecca Freeman; Kalina B. Manova; Thomas Sampson |
| Abstract: | How successful is European integration in removing non-tariff trade barriers? We study how Brexit affected UK firms' input sourcing and sales. The post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) reduced sales and input expenditure at firms with higher pre-Brexit EU trade exposure. It also caused firms to switch towards domestic and non-EU inputs. Through the lens of a trade model, the switch in input sourcing implies the TCA increased trade costs on EU imports by 21% and raised unit production costs by 3.1% for the average UK importer. Our results indicate EU membership secures large reductions in trade costs. |
| Keywords: | trade policy, non-tariff barriers, Brexit |
| JEL: | F13 F14 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_13007 |
| By: | Kiet Tuan Duong; Luu Duc Toan Huynh; Povilas Lastauskas; Nam T. Vu |
| Abstract: | Using firm-level panel data on cross-border sales for 27 African economies (2002-2022), we study how the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) reshaped firms’ international trade. Guided by a heterogeneous-firm model with two short-run channels, export-network history and capital adjustment frictions, linked through goods-services input linkages, we document that the 2018 signing raised the ratio of international to total sales by 2.7 percentage points (pp) by 2022. The gains were uneven: firms with prior export experience outside Africa gained 2.8 pp, versus 1.2 pp for Africa-only exporters, and goods-producing firms and those facing lower adjustment frictions responded most. Network history and adjustment frictions thus shape who benefits from continental integration and how gains propagate across the goods-services linkage, so that an intra-continental agreement disproportionately rewards extra-continental traders. |
| Keywords: | adjustment costs; Africa; export experience; goods and services sectors; ownership structure; trade agreement |
| Date: | 2026–09–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2026/199 |