The next RITM Economics Seminar will be held on Monday, November 17, 2025, from 12:15 to 13:15 in Room Gaudemet (Sceaux).
Adelaide Baronchelli (University of Turin) will present her paper “Explaining Intra-Industry Trade in Major Conventional Weapons Among EU Countries, 1960–2022.”
Abstract: This paper analyses intra-industry trade in major conventional weapons (MCW) among European Union countries from 1960 to 2022. While the literature on intra-industry trade is extensive, no study has examined this phenomenon in the context of MCW exchanges. Using SIPRI data, we compute the Grubel–Lloyd Index to measure reciprocal exchanges and estimate panel models to identify economic, political, and security determinants. We find that intra-industry trade is more likely among countries with higher productivity and technological capabilities and declines when the global arms market is more concentrated. The presence of an external threat, proxied by Russian military expenditure, is positively associated with intra-industry trade, whereas political variables are not significant. Similarities in technological capacity across EU members also facilitate reciprocal exchanges. These results provide new evidence on the drivers of defence industrial integration in Europe.
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