Essays on the impact of shocks on international flows and productivity.

Summary This thesis deals with different themes in the field of international economics and macroeconomics. The research developed in this thesis studies the impact of shocks of various kinds on international migration flows, international trade and productivity growth. The first chapter focuses on the evolution of migration flows in response to cyclical shocks. The estimation of the model from the data allows us to conclude that both structural and cyclical shocks influence migration flows. A 10 percent increase in the destination country's wage would lead to an increase in migration flows to that destination country of nearly 8 percent, all else being equal. The second chapter studies the extent to which financial shocks affect the level of firms' exports, with a particular focus on firms that export to distant destinations. We find that firms that face financial frictions export between 4% and 10% less than those that do not. Our results also show that among exporters facing financial frictions, those that export to distant destinations reduce their exports even more. In chapter three, we study how financial frictions can lead to distortions in resource allocation. Our results suggest that in financially developed countries, capital does not necessarily improve the efficient allocation of labor across firms.