International Economics Commons^™

How Migrants Fleeing The Mexican Drug War Changed American Labor Markets, Mark Borgschulte, Yuci Chen, Eduardo Medina-Cortina

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Analyzing The Role And Impact Of Energy Resources On The South China Sea Dispute, Adam Opp

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

The South China Sea is a critical but contested body of water that has been the source of much international debate and focus. The sea is a strategic maritime route and one of the most important waterways for regional and global trade. The South China Sea features rich natural resources such as fisheries and hydrocarbons, especially unknown amounts of oil and natural gas remaining untapped throughout the sea. Geological surveys estimate extremely lucrative quantities of oil and natural gas in the South China Sea, which drives the conflict, as nations with competing territorial claims seek to control not just the …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Migration And U.S. Labor Market Effects Of The Mexican Drug War, Mark Borgschulte, Yuci Chen, Eduardo Medina-Cortina

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We estimate the effect of the Mexican drug war on Mexico-to-U.S. migration and the resulting effects on population, employment, and wages in U.S. labor markets. Our empirical strategy compares U.S. counties differentially connected to Mexican municipalities through historical migration networks, using drug violence triggered by close municipal elections in 2007–2008 as a source of exogenous variation. Over the following decade, migrants fleeing the violence—the vast majority of whom are undocumented—cause native-born U.S. workers’ employment rates to increase and unemployment rates to fall, while wages do not change. Employment gains are largest for natives without a college degree. Employment effects fade …

(When) Can Trade Wars Be Good?, Henry S. Gao, Weihuan Zhou

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

‘Trade wars are good, and easy to win,’ tweeted Donald Trump in 2018. The US–China trade war that followed proved otherwise – especially when confronting a major economic power. Yet, can trade wars ever be good? While the academic consensus holds they harm all participants, we argue that under certain circumstances they can produce positive outcomes. Set against the backdrop of the Liberation Day tariffs announced on April 2, 2025, this paper examines the limits of the Ricardian free trade model underpinning the current multilateral trading system, identifies when trade wars may serve strategic goals, and explores alternative rules to …

Litigating National Security In The Wto Era, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

From one dispute between 1948 and 1994, there have now been 14 requests for a panel establishment (based on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), Article XXI – the exception for national security) during the World Trade Organization (WTO) era (1995–now). The majority of them ended up in the issuance of a panel report, all of which were issued after 5 April 2019. As the WTO Appellate Body has been dysfunctional as of November 2019, no appellate report has been issued. Appeals have been lodged, but as there is no Appellate Body to entertain them, they were lodged …

'Reciprocal' Tariffs: What's In A Word, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

On 13 February 2025, President Trump released a memorandum announcing his intention to impose “reciprocal tariffs” under the Fair and Reciprocal Plan (FRP). The plan does not operate under a reasonable definition of reciprocity, is illegal under World Trade Organisation (WTO) law, would damage both the United States and its trading partners and could trigger reactions that would bring an end to the international trading system as we know it.

A Proposal For One “Super” Independent Accountability Mechanism, Daniel D. Bradlow

Perspectives

This essay will discuss how the MDBs- for example, the World Bank Group, the African, Asian, and Inter-American Development Banks, and more recently the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the New Development Bank – are dealing with the issue of accountability. It will argue that, although the MDBs have been leaders in promoting international organizational accountability, their mechanisms of accountability are not keeping up with the evolution in their operations. In the interests of promoting new and creative thinking about these issues, it will also make an ambitious proposal for how the MDBs jointly …

The Rise Of China: Economic Expansion, Military Modification And The Belt And Road Initiative, Felix Padilla

Dissertations and Theses

In order to analyze China’s rise in power, we have to examine how China has achieved this growth. We need to observe their domestic reforms, international initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and strategic military advancements. This thesis focuses on China’s economic integration, market reforms and military modernization. The thesis uncovers the effects of this rise on global governance and power balances, especially in trade, security, and geopolitics. I analyze China's vision of a multipolar world and how it contrasts with the current global order and how this fuels rivalry with the U.S. and other powers. China's rise …

The Role Of Economic Sanctions In Shaping International Trade Relationships Case Study: Russia, Chick Edmond

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Economic sanctions play an influential role in international relations by shaping the behavior of states. To address security threats and uphold international norms, countries seek to punish those responsible in violating these principles through the use of economic sanctions. The paper examines the impact of economic sanctions on trade relationships and its consequences on the Russian Economy. It also seeks to analyze the evolution of trade embargo during the post-cold war era to a more resilient and sophisticated measures in the age of globalization. Through this historical perspective, this analysis examines an important case study such as Russia by evaluating …

How The European Union Should Respond To Trump's Tariffs, Ignacio García Bercero, Petros C. Mavroidis, André Sapir

Faculty Scholarship

President-elect Trump has threatened to increase United States tariffs to 60 percent on imports from China and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other trading partners, including the European Union. In doing so the US would be ignoring its World Trade Organisation commitments and would also rollback the substantial liberalisation that has taken place during the past 80 years, with a potentially major negative impact on the world economy.

In response to this threat, the EU should pursue a three-pronged strategy.

First, the EU should engage bilaterally with the US to seek to avoid the imposition of tariffs. …

Intellectual Property, Global Inequality, And Subnational Policy Variations, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter criticizes the oversimplification of the binary North–South debate on intellectual property, innovation, and global inequality and highlights the wide geographic, sectoral, and income inequalities within middle-income countries. It begins by explaining why the arrival of these countries has called into question the North–South debate. The chapter then moves from the widely studied subject of global inequality to the underexplored topic of national inequality. Focusing on the intellectual property context, the discussion highlights the considerable subnational variations in the economic and technological conditions of middle-income countries. To combat national inequality, this chapter concludes by recommending interventions in three areas: …

Several Us Trade ‘Deals’ Later, There Are Still More Questions Than Answers, Locknie Hsu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

For ASEAN countries, the immediate question is not whether United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs are legal but how to get greater clarity about trade agreements, says SMU law professor Locknie Hsu.

De-Escalating The United States-China Trade War Using A Global Conflict Resolution Methodology Framework, Angelina Kapp

Undergraduate Honors Theses

How can the United States and China collaboratively de-escalate their current trade relationship using a conflict resolution methodology to foster economic growth and foreign investor confidence in the evolving landscape of global trade? This paper will serve as a guide to those wanting to gain a comprehensive understanding of the macroeconomic causes and impacts of the contentious trade war between the U.S. and China. The year 2018 can be attributed to the start of the war when then-President Donald Trump implemented tariffs on Chinese goods and products. These back-and-forth financial and economic measures have been continually imposed to this day …

The Long And Short-Run Spatial Impacts Of Trade, Lin Ma, Yunlong Song, Yang Tang

Research Collection School Of Economics

We explore how the spatial impacts of trade evolve over time using a dynamic spatial model that incorporates capital accumulation and skill acquisition. We show that in the short run, the spatial impacts of trade mainly depend on the initial conditions, especially the endowments of physical and human capital across locations. However, in the long run, trade shocks shape the distribution of production factors across space through factor accumulation and migration, resulting in significantly different spatial impacts. In the context of China’s WTO accession, we find that international trade is seven times more effective in driving the population towards coastal …

Legal, Policy, And Environmental Scholars Discuss Global Food Systems At Indiana Law Symposium, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

The Indiana University Maurer School of Law and its Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies are hosting scholars from around the country Friday and Saturday (Jan. 19-20) for an interdisciplinary discussion on one of the world’s most prevalent problems—food insecurity.

Data from the World Bank estimate more than 780 million people around the world suffered from chronic hunger in 2022. As climate change affects agricultural production and water accessibility, the problem could worsen in coming years.

“A Fragile Framework: How Global Food Systems Intersect with the International Legal Order, the Environment, and the World’s Populations” will bring together legal, policy, …

China’S Changing Perspective On The Wto: From Aspiration, Assimilation To Alienation, Henry S. Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Since its accession to the WTO twenty years ago, China’s image has shifted from a good student aspiring to assimilate itself into the multilateral trading system to one that is increasingly alienated from key WTO principles. How has China’s perspective on WTO been evolving? What are the reasons behind China’s changing perspective? This chapter addresses these questions from the Chinese perspective with a comprehensive analysis of the key moments in China’s first two decades in the WTO, followed by practical suggestions on how to engage China more constructively in the WTO and beyond.

Minimum Exchange Rate And A Negative Interest Rate: The Swiss National Bank’S Unconventional Monetary Policy During Eurozone Volatility, Wally Bargeron

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Monetary policy is one of the most important tools that a government has to influence its economy. This means the ability for a country to determine their own monetary policy is important to that country’s autonomy. Switzerland has consistently based its decisions on what would afford it the highest level of autonomy, including the decision not to join the European Union and subsequently the decision to retain their own currency.

The Swiss National Bank retains the mandate to keep price levels (inflation) stable, but it is challenged by an appreciating currency. Because the Swiss Franc is a safe-haven currency, money …

A Path To Achieve European Energy Security, Nicholas Wolf

Student Theses 2015-Present

The apparatus of Europe’s energy security has collapsed. The Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, hydrocarbon market turmoil, and the ever-growing threat of climate change has thrust the continent into crisis. As the risks of severe recession, acute energy shortages, and climatic disasters have begun to materialize, the member states of the European Union (EU) have been left scrambling to secure novel energy supplies. In the short-term, these developments pose severe risks to the EU and its member states. Yet, opportunity often presents itself in the midst of hardship, and the European Energy Crisis of 2022 is no different. This essay …

What Doesn’T Kill You Makes You Stronger: The Shifting Strategies Of Japan’S Yakuza In Response To Economic Globalization And Securitization, Benjamin P. Murkison

Honors College Theses

The Yakuza in Japan is a deeply traditional and infamous ethnic mafia, which has historically based their profits off of the protection of gambling rings and street vendors, but have developed into one of the most sophisticated and wealthy criminal institutions in the world. Reaching their peak in the 1960’s with around 200,000 members, the Yakuza has been in a slow decline ever since. However, the past decade has seen the most dramatic drop in Yakuza numbers in recorded history, as a result of increasing securitization by the Japanese state. As their power has declined within Japan, they have only …

The Evolution Of The ‘Trade And …’ ‘Debate’: A View From Asean, Locknie Hsu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article explores the ‘Trade and …’ ‘Debate’ in the context of trade and environment issues. It provides an explanation of the evolution of discussions of such issues in a non-dispute settlement context, using developments in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ integration efforts as illustrations. It also highlights a number of opportunities for trade and environment collaboration in negotiations for free trade agreement and Digital Economy Partnership Agreements.

U.S. Energy Information Administration Information Resources, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides information about the resources produced by U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. These resources cover energy statistics for U.S., states, the United States, and foreign countries. They also cover energy products as varied as coal, natural gas, nuclear energy, petroleum, and renewable energy.

Commercialization Of Separated Human Body Parts - Unpacking Instrumentalization Approach, Arseny Shevelev, Georgy Shevelev

Pace International Law Review

The principle of non-commercialization, which prohibits trade in separated human body parts, has long been firmly embedded in many European legal orders and has become an integral part of them. However, many new uses for human biomaterials have now been discovered, and the need for them has reached a historical climax. This paper aims to explain the main tenets of non-commercialization theory, including such principles as human dignity and need to protect human’s health, and to show that these categories have so far been understood in a very one-sided and visceral way, and largely in contradiction to their true spirit. …

Noneconomic Objectives, Global Value Chains And International Cooperation, Bernard M. Hoekman, Petros C. Mavroidis, Douglas R. Nelson

Faculty Scholarship

Systemic conflicts increasingly affect the global value chains (GVCs) underpinning globalization by creating policy uncertainty and politicizing trade and investment decisions. Unilateral policies to attain competitiveness and noneconomic objectives (NEOs), including national security, create incentives for international cooperation to attenuate policy spillovers. Recent initiatives seeking to do so are organized around supply chain governance and need not be anchored in trade agreements. Whether such cooperation is feasible and can be designed to be effective in realizing NEOs is unclear. Plurilateral GVC-centered cooperation offers a potential path for states to pursue NEOs and reduce policy uncertainty for international business. Research offers …

Trade And Transfer Of Environmentally Sound Technology In Asean: Mapping Priorities To Economic Treaty Negotiations, Locknie Hsu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN”) share common objectives in economic, sociocultural and political-security integration. Addressing environmental concerns is animportant consideration which traverses different areas of integration policymaking. ASEAN has, in recent years, emphasised the importance of environmental considerations, including environmentally sound technologies (“ESTs”) which may contribute to its climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, in its law and policymaking. This article discusses the nexus between ASEAN’s needs for the transfer of ESTs and the group’s economic treaty negotiations. Through a “mapping” of such needs to free trade agreementareas, it aims to provide a pathway …

Lost Grounds In Us Trade Integration, John C. Beghin

Cornhusker Economics

Growing World Trade Organization (WTO) membership and plurilateral trade agreements have increasingly occurred in the last 20 years leading to unprecedented market integration. However, in the last 5 years, the United States (US) has been diverging from its traditional role as a main driver of this integration. In contrast, Europe has been integrated progressively within itself and beyond, outpacing the US. The article documents these trends and changes. This article is based on a longer working paper and an article in EuroChoices coauthored with Jill O’Donnell.

The Coronavirus Pandemic And International Trade, E. Wesley F. Peterson

Cornhusker Economics

The Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted economic activities around the world. Many businesses had to cease operations and furlough or lay off their workers. The World Bank (2021) has reported that global economic output fell by 3.4% in 2020. The good news is that the massive infusion of financial support from many governments in high-income countries meant that the worst economic effects of the pandemic were mitigated, and a rapid recovery has begun to make up for the pandemic-related losses. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that the global economy will grow by 5.9% in 2021 recovering the 2020 losses and …

Three Essays On Preferential Trade Agreement And Trade Policy, Kefang Yao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation consists of three chapters on Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) and trade policies. Increasing in numbers rapidly since 1990s, PTAs have extended their traditional focus on tariff reduction to deeper policy integration in areas such as competition policy, intellectual property rights, investment, and movement of capital. The first chapter of the dissertation uses a recently released dataset of PTA contents to quantify impacts of the horizontal depth of trade agreements on bilateral trade flows and national welfare for the period of 1980-2015. The results indicate that agreements that are deeper (covering a wider range of policy areas) contribute to …

An Inferentially Robust Look At Two Competing Explanations For The Surge In Unauthorized Migration From Central America, Nick Santos

Dissertations

The last 8 years have seen a dramatic increase in the flow of Central American apprehensions by the U.S. Border Patrol. Explanations for this surge in apprehensions have been split between two leading hypotheses. Most academic scholars, immigrant advocates, progressive media outlets, and human rights organizations identify poverty and violence (the Poverty and Violence Hypothesis) in Central America as the primary triggers responsible. In contrast, while most government officials, conservative think tanks, and the agencies that work in the immigration and border enforcement realm admit poverty and violence may underlie some decisions to migrate, they instead blame lax U.S. immigration …

Selective Engagement? Future Path For Us-China Economic Relations And Its Implications, Heng Wang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The US-China economic interactions will have profound ramifications for the world. The article explores the following questions: what is the path forward for US-China economic interactions? What are its implications? It argues that selective engagement is the possible future path for US-China economic interactions. Selective engagement involves selective focuses, which currently are an unprecedented emphasis on market access, and delegalized implementation. Selective engagement contrasts sharply with deep free trade agreements that focus on regulatory disciplines and legalized dispute settlement. Selective engagement carries profound implications, ranging from rule vacuum and inconsistency, increased protection and economic disintegration, to the marginalization of multilateralism. …