Journal of Sociological Research ISSN 1948-5468 2014, Vol. 5, No.1 www.macrothink.org/jsr 126 Tie or Try: Intra-Eu Trade in Times of Economic Crisis Konstantinos Pistikos Department of Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Grigoris Zarotiadis (Corresponding Author) Department of Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Tel: +302310991163; E-mail: gzarotia@econ.auth.gr Doi:10.5296/jsr.v5i1.5529 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/jsr.v5i1.5529 Abstract International competitiveness and extraversion is a fundamental prerequisite for the perspectives of countries and enterprise; yet, the synchronization of crisis in other regions as well reduces the prospects of this way-out. We used panel-data for 19 EU-member states in the period 2002-2012, in order to estimate the significance and the sign of these impacts. Our main contribution came out of the country specific time dummies we used with respect to intra-EU exporting activity. In a globalized but still eminently imperfect world market, where international oligopolies and scale-benefits of large states dominate and shape the balances, the choice of small, medium-sized and emerging economies is the following: to bind to strong (trade-) partners and/or to be able to devaluate. Key words: Extraversion, Economic Crisis, Eurozone. 1. Introduction Acting beyond the national borders is both, promising but also fundamental for the perspectives of any enterprise, as well as the economy as a whole – especially in times of financial, systemic crises as in our days. Extraversion and the increase of net exports provide an alternative for economies that experience a deep deterioration of domestic aggregate demand, while exporters respond generally more efficiently to changes taking place. On the other hand, the synchronization of crisis in other countries as well reduces the prospects of this way-out. According to Rao et.al. (1990), firms respond to the downturns in domestic markets by intensifying their efforts to sell abroad. Nonetheless, an exhaustive literature reveals various determinants referring to the macro- and microeconomic environment (van Michiel, 2002 and Love, 1982), being either internal or external, which affect the exports of a country. Investment for instance is a basic factor leading to productivity gains and improvements of products’ quality (De Long and Summers, 1991). Especially with respect to foreign direct investments (FDI), despite the mixed effects that may arise (Zarotiadis, 2008), “reverse