International Trade in Goods: Evidence from Transaction Data

For a couple of years, more and more micro-econometric studies in international trade use data on exports and imports on goods that are based on transaction level data collected by the customs. These data cover detailed information on the goods traded, its value, its weight, and the country of destination (for exports) or origin (for imports). In contrast to data from surveys of firms that were used in empirical studies in the past, these data do not only focus on "who trades and how much", but also on "who trades how much of which goods of which value and which weight with firms from which countries". These transaction data have been used in empirical studies that shed light on various aspects of trade in goods for the first time. This book contains a comprehensive survey of the international literature and selected studies that report results for Germany, the third largest exporter and importer of goods in the world market.