Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/202307 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
JRC Working Papers in Economics and Finance No. 2019/1
Publisher: 
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg
Abstract: 
We estimate the variety gains of trade in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania following the fall of the iron curtain more than a quarter of a century ago. We apply the methodology of Feenstra (1994); Broda and Weinstein (2006); Ardelean and Lugovskyy (2010) and Soderbery (2015) to domestic and international trade data for the period 1988-1997. Although, there was a decline in the number of local varieties during this period, an increase in the number of import varieties from the EU more than outweighed this decline. The increasing variety of imported goods from EU countries substantially lowered the cost of living, resulting in welfare gains to consumers that range from 0.73% in Latvia to 1.28% of GDP per year in Estonia.
Subjects: 
variety growth
welfare gains
trade integration
iron curtain
JEL: 
C68
F12
F14
F17
R12
R23
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-79-99245-2
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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