The dynamics of trade margins: Evidence from the European integration

We analyze the exports trade margins dynamics for ten transition countries, both at the industry and product level, during the period of accession to the EU. We find that trade along both margins was driven by only about 1% of almost 5000 (HS 6-digit) products. Moreover, the largest intensive and extensive margin gains were mostly concentrated around the same subset of sectors. Last, we find a positive correlation between productivity growth and the extensive margin across the transition economies.