Research

Current manuscripts: (click on title for abstract)

• Who Bears the Burden of Local Taxes?

  with Jayson Danton, Raphaël Parchet and Jörg Schläpfer. forthcoming, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2025. See manuscript (data and code)

• Competition, harmonization and redistribution: Corporate taxes in Switzerland

  with Marko Köthenbürger, Matthias Krapf, Raphaël Parchet, Kurt Schmidheiny and David Staubli. forthcoming in “Policy Responses to Tax Competition” (edited by D.R. Agrawal, J.M. Poterba, O.M. Zidar), University of Chicago Press, 2025. See manuscript

• And There Was Light: Trade and the Development of Border Regions

  with Barthélémy Bonadio and Guillaume Rais (December 2024), See manuscript

• Price and Prejudice: Housing Rents Reveal Racial Animus

  with Gian-Paolo Klinke, Andrea Marcucci, Dominic Rohner and Mathias Thoenig (October 2024), See manuscript

• On Nesting Location Choice Models Correctly: A Reply

  with Kurt Schmidheiny. See manuscript

Peer-reviewed publications: (click on title for abstract and replication files)

• Fiscal Federalism in the 21st Century

  with David R. Agrawal and Jan K. Brueckner. Annual Review of Economics, 16: 429–454, 2024. See manuscript

• Young people’s mental and social distress in times of international crisis: evidence from helpline calls, 2019–2022

  with Valentin Klotzbücher and Rafael Lalive. Scientific Reports, 13(11858), 2023. See publication

• Behavioral Responses to Wealth Taxes: Evidence from Switzerland

  with Jonathan Gruber, Matthias Krapf and Kurt Schmidheiny, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 14(4): 111–150, 2022. See publication (supplementary materials)

• Mental Health Concerns during the COVID-19 Pandemic as Revealed by Helpline Calls

  with Valentin Klotzbücher, Rafael Lalive and Stephanie Reich, Nature. 2021. See publication (commentary; news post)

• The Shrinking Advantage of Market Potential

  with Klaus Desmet and Gian-Paolo Klinke, Journal of Development Economics, 147, 2020. See publication

• Covid-19 Financial Support to Small Businesses in Switzerland: Evaluation and Outlook

  with Rafael Lalive, Tobias Lehmann and Michael Siegenthaler. Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics. 156(15). 2020. See publication

• Does Tax Competition Tame the Leviathan ?

  with Mario Jametti, Journal of Public Economics, 177, 2019. See publication

• Trade and Towns: Heterogeneous Adjustment to a Border Shock

  with Céline Carrère and Frédéric Robert-Nicoud, Journal of Urban Economics, 105: 162-175, 2018. See publication

• Agglomeration Economies, Taxable Rents, And Government Capture: Evidence From A Place-Based Policy

  with Helen Simpson, Journal of Economic Geography, 18(2): 319-353, 2018. See publication / Article in VoxEU

• Inheritance Flows in Switzerland, 1911–2011

  with Didier Dupertuis and Elodie Moreau, Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, 154(8), 2018. See publication

• Taxes in Cities

  with Sam Bucovetsky and Kurt Schmidheiny, in: G. Duranton, J. V. Henderson, W. Strange (eds.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Volume 5B: 1123-1196, 2015. See publication

• Estimating The Rivalness Of State-Level Inward FDI

  with Kurt Schmidheiny, Journal of Regional Science, 55(1): 139-148, 2015. See publication

• Alleged Tax Competition: The Mysterious Death of Bequest Taxes in Switzerland

  with Raphaël Parchet, Journal of Public Economics, 111: 63-78, 2014. See publication

• Progressive Taxes and Firm Births

  with Hans Ulrich Bacher, International Tax and Public Finance, 20(1): 129-168, 2013. See publication

• Do Agglomeration Economies Reduce the Sensitivity of Firm Location to Tax Differentials?

  with Mario Jametti and Kurt Schmidheiny, Economic Journal, 122(563): 1069-1093, 2012. See publication

• How Wages and Employment Adjust to Trade Liberalization: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Austria

  with Céline Carrère and Federico Trionfetti, Journal of International Economics, 86(1): 68-81, 2012. See publication

• Does the Trust Game Measure Trust?

  with Jean-Claude Usunier, Economics Letters, 115(1): 20-23, 2012. See publication / Longer version

• On the Equivalence of Location Choice Models: Conditional Logit, Nested Logit and Poisson

  with Kurt Schmidheiny, Journal of Urban Economics, 69(2): 214-222, 2011. See publication

• The Spatial Effects of Trade Openness: A Survey

  Review of World Economics, 147(1): 59-83, 2011. See publication

• A Test of Trade Theories When Expenditure is Home Biased

  with Federico Trionfetti, European Economic Review, 53(7): 830-845, 2009. See publication

• Agglomeration and Growth: Cross-Country Evidence

  with Federica Sbergami, Journal of Urban Economics, 65(1): 48-63, 2009. See publication

• An Account of Global Intra‐Industry Trade, 1962–2006

  The World Economy, 32(3): 401-459, 2009. See publication / Working paper version with colour graphs

• Sectoral Agglomeration Economies in a Panel of European Regions

  with Nicole Mathys, Regional Science and Urban Economics, 38(4): 348-362, 2008. See publication

• Vertical Versus Horizontal Tax Externalities: An Empirical Test

  with Mario Jametti, Journal of Public Economics, 90(10): 2027-2062, 2006. See publication

• The Fading Attraction of Central Regions: an Empirical Note on Core–Periphery Gradients in Western Europe

  Spatial Economic Analysis, 1(2): 227-235, 2006. See publication

• New Economic Geography Meets Comecon: Regional Wages and Industry Location in Central Europe

  with Pamina Koenig, Economics of Transition, 14(2): 245-267, 2006. See publication

• Intra-Industry Trade and Labour-Market Adjustment: A Reassessment Using Data on Individual Workers

  with Robert Elliott and Joanne Lindley, Review of World Economics, 142(3): 521-545, 2006. See publication

• An Account of Geographic Concentration Patterns in Europe

  with Rolf Traeger, Regional Science and Urban Economics, 35(6): 597-624, 2005. See publication
  (Extracts reprinted in de Gijsel, P. and Schenk, H. (eds.), Multidisciplinary Economics, Springer, 2005)

• Enlargement and the EU Periphery: The Impact of Changing Market Potential

  with Matthieu Crozet and Pamina Koenig, The World Economy, 27(6): 853-875, 2004. See publication

• Public Expenditure, International Specialisation and Agglomeration

  with Frederico Trionfetti, European Economic Review, 48(4): 851-881, 2004. See publication
  (Reprinted in Jovanovic, M.N. (ed.), Economic Integration and Spatial Location of Firms and Industries, vol. II [series: The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics], Edward Elgar, 2007)

• A Tale of Two Cycles: Co-Fluctuations Between UK Regions and the Euro Zone

  with Salvador Barrios, Robert Elliott and Marianne Sensier, The Manchester School, 71(3): 265-292, 2003. See publication

• Labour-Market Effects of Intra-Industry Trade: Evidence for the United Kingdom

  with Robert Elliott, Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv / Review of World Economics, 138(2): 207-228, 2002. See publication

• Achats publics et spécialisation internationale : l’effet d’entraînement

  with Federico Trionfetti, Économie Internationale, 89-90: 173-187, 2002. See publication

• Evolving Geographical Concentration of European Manufacturing Industries

  Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv / Review of World Economics, 137(2): 215-243, 2001. See publication

• Industrial Structure and Public Procurement: Theory and Empirical Evidence

  with Federico Trionfetti, Journal of Economic Integration, 16(1): 106-127, 2001. See publication

• Export Growth of NAFTA Members, Intra-Industry Trade and Adjustment

  with Michael Thorpe, Global Business and Economics Review, 3(1): 94-110, 2001. See publication

• Dynamics of Intra-Industry Trade and Labour-Market Adjustment

  Review of International Economics, 8(3): 420-435, 2000. See publication
  (Reprinted in: Kwan Choi, E. and Greenaway, D., Globalization and Labor Markets, Blackwell, 2001)

• Intra-Industry Trade and Adjustment in Malaysia: Puzzling Evidence

  with Michael Thorpe, Applied Economics Letters, 7(11): 729-733, 2000. See publication

• East-Asian Export Growth, Intra-Industry Trade and Adjustment

  with Michael Thorpe, Asia Pacific Journal of Economics and Business, 3(2): 34-47, 1999. See publication

• Ireland’s Trading Potential with Central and Eastern European Countries: A Gravity Study

  with Mary Kelly, Economic and Social Review, 30(2): 159-174, 1999. See publication

• Economic Geography, Industry Location and Trade: The Evidence

  The World Economy, 21(6): 775-801, 1998. See publication
  (Reprinted in Jovanovic, M.N. (ed.), Economic Integration and Spatial Location of Firms and Industries, vol. II [series: The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics], Edward Elgar, 2007)

• Trading Places: Industrial Specialization in the European Union

  Journal of Common Market Studies, 36(3): 319-346, 1998. See publication
  (Reprinted in Jovanovic, M.N. (ed.), Economic Integration and Spatial Location of Firms and Industries, vol. III [series: The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics], Edward Elgar, 2007)

• Adjustment to the European Single Market: Inferences from Intra-Industry Trade Patterns

  with Robert Elliott, Journal of Economic Studies, 25(3): 225-247, 1998. See publication

• Commerce et spécialisation géographique dans l’Union Européenne

  Économie internationale, 65(1): 169-202, 1996. See publication

• Intra-Industry Trade, Adjustment and the Single Market: The Irish Experience

  with Dermot McAleese, Economic and Social Review, 26(2): 107-129, 1995. See publication

• Marginal Intra-Industry Trade: Measurement and Relevance for the Pattern of Industrial Adjustment

  Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv / Review of World Economics, 130(3): 600-613, 1994. See publication
  (Reprinted in Lloyd, P.J. and Grubel, H.G. (eds.), Intra-Industry Trade [series: The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics], Edward Elgar, 2003)

Editorial: (click on title for abstract)

• The Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics at 160

  with Kateryna Dashevska. Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, 160(13), 2024. See publication

Publications in books: (click on title for abstract)

• Economic Integration in the Lower Congo Region

  with Mombert Hoppe, in Paul Brenton and Gözde Isik (eds.) De-Fragmenting Africa: Deepening Regional Trade Integration in Goods and Services, World Bank, 2012. See paper

• EU External Trade Policy

  with Alan Matthews, in Ali M. El-Agraa (ed.) The European Union: Economics & Policies, 8th edition, Cambridge University Press, 2007. See paper

• Marginal Intra-Industry Trade: Towards a Measure of Non-Disruptive Trade Expansion

  in Peter J. Lloyd and Hyun-Hoon Lee (eds.) Frontiers of Research on Intra-Industry Trade, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. See paper

• Growing Alike or Growing Apart? Industrial Specialisation of EU Countries

  in Charles Wyplosz (ed.) The Impact of EMU on Europe and the Developing Countries, Oxford University Press, 2001. See paper

• EU External Trade Policy

  with Dermot McAleese, in Ali M. El-Agraa (ed.) The European Union: Economics and Policies, 6th edition, Pearson Education, 2001.

• Intra-Industry Trade and Adjustment: The European Experience

  co-edited with R. C. Hine Macmillan Publishers, London, 1999. See book / Economic Journal’s book review

Unpublished working papers: (click on title for abstract)

• Economic Development in Myanmar’s Border Regions: Evidence from Nightlights

  with Mélise Jaud and Bernhard Nöbauer. Background paper for World Bank country report, September 2020. Link Part 1 Link Part 2

• Daily Suffering: Helpline Calls during the Covid-19 Crisis

  with Rafael Lalive. See manuscript

• Intra-Industry Trade and Job Turnover

  with Anthony Murphy and Eric Strobl, 2004. See paper

• Regional Integration, Scale Economies and Industry Location in the European Union

  with Johan Torstensson, CEPR Discussion Paper #1435, 1996. See paper
  (Reprinted in Jovanovic, M.N. (ed.), Economic Integration and Spatial Location of Firms and Industries, vol. I [series: The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics], Edward Elgar, 2007)

• Industrial Specialisation in the European Union: A Test of the New Trade Theory

  Trinity Economic Papers, Technical Paper No. 95/5, 1995. See paper

• Scale Economies, Intra-Industry Trade and Industry Location in the New Trade Theory

  Trinity Economic Papers, Technical Paper No. 95/4, 1995. See paper