Dear colleagues, The Department of Economics cordially invites you to the WU Economics Research Seminar on Thursday, June 5th, with Tibor Besedeš (Georgia Institute of Technology) on "Experimenting with Ash: The Trade-Effects of Airspace Closures in the Aftermath of Eyjafjallajökull" Abstract: This paper attempts to quantify the effects of a temporary disruption to air transportation on trade using the natural experiment that forced cancellations to roughly one half of all flights originating and/or terminating in Europe between April 15 and April 22. The immediate impact of the disruption to flights was to cause a relatively small (8%) decline in US-bound air freight from Europe. The corresponding elasticity of air freight with respect to flight cancellations was about -0.55. Over the long-term, however, the impact may have been larger due to the persistence of trade, moreover some of the effects of flight cancellations spilled over by affecting air freight volumes between the US and its non-European trading partners. Partially offsetting these effects however were positive impacts on trading relationships, as US importers sourced alternative sources to countries to make up for the loss in European supply. Date: Thursday, June 5th Time: 4.00 to 5.30 pm (CET) Location: building D4, ground floor, D4.0.019<https://campus.wu.ac.at/?q=D4.0.019> With best regards, Harald Oberhofer --- Univ.-Prof. Dr. Harald Oberhofer Department of Economics WU Vienna University of Economics and Business Phone: +43/1/31336-4984 Email: harald.oberhofer@wu.ac.at<mailto:harald.oberhofer@wu.ac.at> https://www.wu.ac.at/en/economics/people/oberhofer-h Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) Phone: +43/1/7982601-468 Email: harald.oberhofer@wifo.ac.at<mailto:harald.oberhofer@wifo.ac.at> http://www.wifo.ac.at/harald_oberhofer