Conference on Empirical Issues in International Trade & Finance
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Global trade in goods and services has increased at a much faster pace than global GDP during the post World War II period. Initially the surge in international trade was experienced by the developed world. However the underdeveloped countries joined the race pretty soon. Along with trade international financial transactions, especially the movement of capital both in terms of foreign direct investment and portfolio investment has increased at a rapid pace sometimes outpacing the growth in trade.

The phenomenal rise in the volume of these international transactions has motivated a substantial amount of academic research on international economic issues. Unlike academic research in international economics in earlier times, a majority of this research has been empirical rather than theoretical in content. Easy availability of data, substantial improvement in statistical techniques, computing power and theoretical innovations in attempting to link existing theory to the data have significantly improved the quality and hence the intellectual standing of empirical research in international economics.