Firm heterogeneity has proved to be a fundamental hypothesis to renew our understanding of the expected gains from trade and growth policies. Since the pioneering papers analyzing the effect of trade liberalization, numerous papers are now focusing on the differences in regulatory frameworks and/or national policies when explaining a country’s ability to reap productivity, employment and welfare gains from international integration.

This international workshop has brought together both theoretical and empirical contributions dealing with the influence of various aspects of a country regulatory framework on firm selection mechanisms and competitiveness. Especially welcomed have been contributions on the following topics:

1.  Methodological issues on the measurement of productivity based on firm-level datasets
2.  Market frictions and gains from trade liberalization
3.  Labor and product market regulation, firm selection and comparative advantage
4.  Distance to technological frontier, trade policies and competitiveness
5.  Exchange rate policies, firm selection mechanisms and competitiveness
6.  Relationship between innovation and trade policies

Andrew B. Bernard (Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, USA), Mark J. Roberts (Penn State University, USA), Jacques Mairesse (Insee-Crest, France), Giovanni Dosi (Sant’Anna School, LEM, Italy), Bart Verspagen (UNU-MERIT, Netherlands), Joachim Wagner (Lueneburg University, Germany),  Massimo Del Gatto (University of Pescara, Italy).

Flora Bellone (chair, University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis), Sarah Guillou (co-chair, SciencesPo OFCE), Lionel Nesta (SciencesPo OFCE), Jean-Luc Gaffard (SciencesPo OFCE and CERAM Business School), Sylvain Barde (SciencesPo OFCE), Patrick Musso (University of Savoie and CERAM Business School), Mauro Napoletano (SciencesPo OFCE), Stefano Schiavo (University of Trento).

This conference has received the financial support of the EU through the Network of Excellence DIME (Dynamics of Institutions and Markets), of the CNRS and the University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis, through GREDEG (Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion), and of OFCE-SciencesPo (Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Economiques de SciencesPo, Paris)