Video presents GSEM Professors’ findings on protectionism, trade policies, and labor concerns

Trade policies are important determinants of earnings and unemployment around the globe. GSEM Professors Céline Carrère, Monika Mrázová, and Frédéric Robert-Nicoud, present a summary of their research on protectionism, trade, and labor.

Several studies were conducted, with the research focusing on a variety of important issues, such as how the rise in protectionism impacts the labor market and international trade. The findings were published in five renowned journals.

In a paper published in the Journal of the European Economic Association, the authors investigate the question of whether protectionism reduces unemployment using a multi-country, multi-sector trade model to quantify the income and joblessness effects for 31 OECD countries. The article also demonstrates how job losses would increase if the North American Free Trade Agreement was repealed.

Similarly, in a paper published in the European Economic Review, the authors look at how trade reduces unemployment in countries with more efficient labor markets. Recognizing that trade matters for labor market outcomes, developed countries increasingly include labor clauses in the preferential trade agreements they negotiate with developing countries. In a paper published in the Review of International Organizations, the authors’ findings support the view that labor clauses contribute to the creation of new trade links.

The article published in the International Economic Review aims to understand the economic-political determinants of red-tape barriers, their effects on trade, and how their implications differ from the more traditional trade barriers. 

Finally, the article published in The Economic Journal confirms that bilateral trade flows fall with distance and provides a methodological contribution to improving the estimation of trade elasticity.

Céline Carrère, Monika Mrázová, and Frédéric Robert-Nicoud are Professors of Economics at the GSEM’s Institute of Economics and Econometrics. Prof. Carrère is currently researching developing countries’ exports, trade policy and trade agreements, and the impact of trade costs; Prof. Mrázová’s research interests lie in the fields of international trade, political economy, and industrial organization; Prof. Robert-Nicoud’s research and teaching interests include economic geography, international trade, and applied microeconomics;

This video is part of a planned series launched by the Institute of Economics and Econometrics highlighting research carried out within the School.

> Click here to watch the video.