This dissertation involves two set of papers. The first chapter contains a brief introduction of the issues covered in this thesis. In the first set of papers (chapters 2 and 3) I investigate the use of product standards in international trade. Product standards relate to restrictions on the...

Spatial econometrics is a subfield of econometrics that deals with the treatment of spatialinteractions in regression models for cross sectional and panel data.Chapter 1: This is the first paper that highlights the role of spatial interactions, in thecontext of bankruptcy laws, in the...