My research interests lie at the intersection of international trade and industrial organization, focusing on trade costs, cartel behavior, and their implications for global welfare. In collaboration with James Anderson (Boston College) and Yoto Yotov, I co-authored the paper "Intra-national Trade Costs: Assaying Regional Frictions" (European Economic Review, 2019), which introduces a novel method for flexibly estimating international, inter-regional, and intra-regional trade costs. This work provides valuable insights into the nature of trade frictions within and across borders. Another publication, "Preferential Trade Liberalization with Endogenous Cartel Discipline: Implications for Trade and Welfare" (Canadian Journal of Economics, 2024), co-authored with Constantinos Syropoulos and Yoto Yotov, introduces an endogenous index of collusive discipline and shows that trade liberalization can strengthen collusion, affecting both trade flows and welfare. The analysis highlights that reductions in trade costs can lead to counterintuitive outcomes, such as trade diversion and welfare reductions for PTA members, challenging conventional views on the benefits of trade liberalization and emphasizing the need for nuanced competition policies in international trade agreements. In "Trade-Promoting and Welfare-Enhancing Cartels?", 2024, I show that multi-market, multi-product cartels can both promote trade and improve welfare, defying the conventional wisdom. This study highlights how such cartels can simultaneously promote trade and improve welfare, challenging conventional economic theories.
Building on these theoretical foundations, I have developed a unique dataset of 173 discovered and prosecuted international cartels, which I use to empirically analyze the effects of multi-product cartels on trade. My findings reveal that these cartels can enhance trade volumes, aligning with theoretical predictions. Furthermore, I explore the intensive and extensive margins of trade linked to international cartels, offering a deeper understanding of how these organizations exploit market power both in host and third-country markets. My research has been presented at leading conferences, including the Midwest International Trade Meetings, Canadian Economics Association Meetings, European Trade Study Group Meetings, and Southern Economic Association Meetings, contributing to ongoing discourse in the field.
Selected Publications:
Agnosteva D. R., Syropoulos C., Yotov Y., "Preferential Trade Liberalization with Endogenous Cartel Discipline: Implications for Trade and Welfare." Canadian Journal of Economics, 2024, pp. 33, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/caje.12735
Agnosteva D., Anderson J. E., Yotov Y. V., "Intra-national trade costs: Assaying regional frictions." European Economic Review, vol. 112, 2019, pp. 32-50, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0014292118301880