This paper analyses the eects of the European Union's anti-dumping taris against Chinese imports on all aected rms: "the good" European import-competing rms, "the bad" Chinese exporters and "the ugly" European importers of dumped products. The results show that temporary import taris are benecial to the least productive "good" EU producers, but harms the most productive "ugly" EU importers. Overall, the net eects of anti-dumping policy on European employment and exports are largely negative. Also taris enhance the productivity of surviving "bad" Chinese exporters and widens the productivity gap with European competitors.

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Small groups of fast-growth firms contribute disproportionately to job creation, yet little is known about their broader impact on the economy. This paper provides the first evidence of the agglomeration externalities of fast-growth firms, examining their economic impact on non-fast-growth firms operating within the same region (NUTS-2) and industry (SIC2), and through backward and forward linkages. Using comprehensive firm-level data on UK firms between 1997 and 2013, the analysis shows robust evidence of positive spillovers of fast-growth firms on the labour productivity of non-fast-growth firms in the same industry and region. However, the externalities in relation to the employment growth of non-fast-growth firms are negative, suggesting labour poaching and local competition effects.

This study presents the first micro-level analysis of the causal effect of Chinese import penetration on firm productivity in 24 sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. We make key contributions to the literature by examining the heterogeneous effects of Chinese imports on firm productivity using data on transport infrastructure, and by distinguishing between import competition and import of intermediate inputs. Two instrumental variables, one based on exogenous geographic characteristic of ports and transportation technology shock, and the other based on a supply-side shock, are constructed to address the endogeneity of import penetration. The results indicate that imports from China impact positively on firm productivity, mainly through imports of intermediate inputs, and there is significant heterogeneity of these effects in terms of firms' proximity to ports and initial productivity level. Overall, our findings suggest that Chinese imports could be viewed as an opportunity for Sub-Sahara Africa firms to enhance their productivity. Furthermore, they highlight the need for developing countries to invest in transport infrastructure to effectively promote firms participation in international markets.

This paper contributes to the literature on regional productivity, complementing previous education and skill-level perspectives with a novel approach analysing the impact of regional skill gaps and skill shortages. This allows us to reflect the idiosyncratic needs of the regional economic structure better, considering both the demand and supply side of the skills equation in localised labour markets. Controlling for unobserved time-invariant firm-level heterogeneity and other region–industry effects across a longitudinal data set for the period 2008–2014, our analysis reveals a negative direct effect of skill shortages on firm productivity. We further find negative spillover effects for both skill gaps and skill shortages in related industries and proximate regions. Results are also shown to be heterogeneous with respect to agglomeration levels and industrial sectors. Stronger negative effects are found in industries defined by a knowledge-intensive skill base, pointing to the loss of learning effects in the presence of skill deficiencies. Conversely, agglomeration effects appear to moderate the impact of skill deficiencies through more efficient matching in the local labour market. The findings presented thus suggest that policies aimed at improving productivity and addressing the increasing regional productivity divide cannot be reduced to a simple space-neutral support for higher education and skill levels but need to recognise explicitly the presence and characteristics of place-specific skills gaps and shortages.