Institutional Permeability and Cross-Border Transmission: Evidence from Uzbekistan’s 2017 Liberalization
by Aaron Williams Lam Abstract While standard diffusion frameworks predict that liberalizing reforms generate positive spillovers in geographically proximate regions, borders are not frictionless membranes. Even observable connectivity may fail to translate into cross-border economic co-movement when institutional frictions govern whether interaction activates transmission. Using Uzbekistan’s 2017 exchange-rate unification as a natural experiment, this paper […]
Vertical Specialization, Trade Diversion, and the 2018-2019 US-China Trade War
by Mariam Hasina Gulamhusein Abstract This thesis examines the impacts of the 2018–2019 US-China trade war, focusing on trade diversion and changes in vertical specialization (VS). Using US imports data and OECD Trade in Value Added (TiVA) data, this thesis estimates country-level tariff elasticities and changes in VS ratios in response to the Section 301 […]
The Future of Economic Geopolitics: Network Effects in Intercultural Trade
By Joshua Curtis Using a regression discontinuity design on a gravity model of trade among 36 Middle Eastern and East Asian countries between 1980 and 2014, this study demonstrates network effects in trade. A small improvement in trade between subsets of two cultural blocs diminishes the effect of cultural similarity on trade between all members […]
Deciphering Chinese Financing To African Countries
By Gwen Geng The paper considers what attracts Chinese aid and Chinese investment to African countries and what kinds of Chinese financing projects are more likely to have unrevealed financing amount. The main database used is AidData: China’s Official Finance to Africa 2000-2012. It contains 2356 Chinese financing projects to 50 African countries. The results […]
Government Allocation of Import Quota Slots to US Films in China’s Cinematic Movie Market
By Sabrina McCutchan The Chinese government implements a complex regulatory system to decrease the market share of imported Hollywood films for theatrical release. The import quota, censorship, and competitive release-scheduling policies in particular severely limit Hollywood’s access to the Chinese market. However, because the government has a monopoly on film distribution and receives nearly half […]
