ECARES Doctoral Lectures – Thierry Mayer, SciencesPo

Gravity vs IO: Trade Policy, Mergers and
Multinational Production.

Recent work in international trade builds on the structural gravity model to provide useful tools for counterfactual policy analysis. The trade approach is economical in terms of data requirements, and can handle large scale problems in terms of country coverage, together with sophisticated models,  where firms can decide among many ways to serve the market (exports, greenfield FDI, export platforms, acquisitions of local production facilities…). However, some of the underlying assumptions are considered as deeply problematic by empirical IO scholars. This minicourse series will investigate the debate between the two fields, and show how and when the gravity-led approach is good enough, and in which cases it yields conclusions that are  indeed misleading.

DATES :

November 27, 2019 : Poor Substitutes? Counterfactual Methods in IO and Trade Compared
14:00-16:00 : Room R42.2.110

February 5, 2020 : Global Giants and Local Stars: How Changes in Brand Ownership Affect Competition
14:00-17:00 : Room R42.2.110

February 6, 2020 : Brands in Motion: How Frictions Shape Multinational Production
10:00-12:00 : Room R42.2.113
14:00-16:00 : Room R42.2.113