EU-Accession Effects on Sectoral Trade: A Helpman-Melitz-Rubinstein Approach with Panel Data

This paper estimates the effects of the EU enlargements in the 2000s for trade in parts and components and trade in final goods separately. A gravity model is applied to disaggregated trade data over the period 1999-2009 for trade between EU and OECD countries. The estimation approach accounts for firm heterogeneity and selection bias in a panel-data framework. We find a positive and significant effect of the EU-accession on CEECs trade in intermediate and final goods. The main findings indicate that the effect of EU accession is higher on trade in intermediate goods than on trade in final goods.