Maxwell School Events Calendar

Economics Department Events

  • A Short History of India’s Economy since 1947 and the Current Challenge

    Eggers Hall, 220

    This lecture will briefly go over this history and then focus on some of the big challenges faced by India today.

  • Andrew F. Smith Lecture: The Past and Future of the COVID Pandemic in Low & Middle Income Countries

    Maxwell Hall, 117

    Andrew F. Smith Lecture with Mushfiq Mobarak: "The Past and Future of the Covid Pandemic in Low and Middle Income Countries."

  • A More Inclusive Approach to Capitalism

    Eggers Hall, Eggers 018

    A presentation by Professor Robert Ashford

  • Applied Micro Seminar with Zhe He

    Eggers 112

    “Partial Identification of the Marginal Treatment Effect with an Invalid Discrete Instrument”

  • Applied Micro Seminar with Samuel Saltmarsh

    Eggers 112

    "Durable housing, vacancies, and blight: The effects of residential demolitions in Detroit"

  • Applied Micro Seminar with Shuyuan Li

    Eggers 112

    "No Child Left Behind: Differentiated Efforts and Achievement Gaps"

  • Applied Micro Seminar with Dan Zhang

    112 Eggers

    "Size of Export Markets and Trade Shock: Analysis on Chinese Firms and US Tariff Change"

  • Culture and Family, Dr. Raquel Fernandez

    Hall of Languages, 500

    Dr. Raquel Fernandez, presenting “Culture and the Family.”

  • MAX 302 Research Poster Session

    204 Maxwell Hall

  • Learning Between Buyers and Sellers Along the Global Value Chain

    341 Eggers Hall

    This paper analyses learning between buyers and sellers as a new channel through which international trade affects product introduction across different production stages within firms. Using detailed firm level data from the Indian manufacturing census, I find that (i) 45% of multi-product firms produce at least one product pair that is connected in the Input-Output matrix, (ii) 30% of new products added by firms every year are either upstream or downstream to products previously produced by them, and (iii) exogenous increases in upstream export market access cause firms to add new products that are downstream to their previous production sets. I attribute this effect to firms learning from their buyers about downstream products during their transactions. To analyze the effects of trade policy on firm scope, I build a dynamic quantitative general equilibrium model of Global Value Chains with knowledge spillovers arising from buyer-seller linkages along the value chain. Potentially multi-product and multi-stage firms in the model invest in R&D to increase their product sets, and benefit from knowledge spillovers from domestic and foreign markets. Trade policy counterfactuals show that cross-stage product innovation decreases as the economy liberalizes due to convergence in technology levels across countries in general equilibrium.

  • Search and Information Frictions on Global E-Commerce Platforms: Evidence from Aliexpress

    Virtual

    We study how search and information frictions shape market dynamics in global e-commerce. Observational data and self-collected quality measures from AliExpress establish the existence of search and information frictions. A randomized experiment that offers new exporters exogenous demand and information shocks demonstrates the potential role of sales accumulation in enhancing seller visibility and overcoming these demand frictions. However, we show theoretically and quantitatively that this demand-reinforcement mechanism is undermined by the large number of online exporters. Our structural model rationalizes the experimental findings and quantifies efficiency gains from reducing the number of inactive sellers.

  • Yuhei Miyauchi: Spatial Production Networks

    341 Eggers Hall

    This paper provides a theory and empirical evidence of how production networks are organized in space and how they shape the spatial distribution of economic activity. Consistent with stylized facts from administrative firm-to-firm transaction-level data from Chile, the authors model firms’ decision of forming a network of supplier and buyer relationships depending on their productivity and geographic location. By aggregating these decisions at the regional level, the authors provide a tractable characterization of the positive and normative properties of the general equilibrium. The authors calibrate the model to the observed domestic and international trade patterns and to the impacts of international trade shocks on domestic production networks in Chile. Counterfactual simulations of international trade shocks and transportation infrastructure reveal strong endogenous responses in the domestic production network, which significantly contribute to the heterogeneous welfare effects depending on the regions’ exposure to the domestic and global production network.

  • Amit Khandelwal: “Language Barriers in Multinationals and Knowledge Transfers”

    Virtual

    A distinct feature of MNCs is a three-tier organizational structure: foreign managers (FMs) supervise domestic managers (DMs) who supervise production workers. Language barriers between FMs and DMs could impede transfers of management knowledge. The authors develop a model in which DMs learn general management by communicating with FMs, but communication effort is non-contractible. These conditions generate sub-optimal communication within the MNC. If communication is complementary with language skills, the planner could raise welfare by subsidizing foreign language acquisition. The authors experimentally assess the validity of the general skills and the complementarity assumptions in Myanmar, a setting where FMs and DMs communicate in English. The first experiment examines the general skills assumption by asking prospective employers at domestic firms to rate hypothetical job candidates. They value candidates with both higher English proficiency and MNC experience, a premium driven, in part, by frequent interactions with FMs. The second experiment examines the complementarity assumption by providing English training to a random sample of DMs working at MNCs. At endline, treated DMs have higher English proficiency, communicate more frequently with their FMs, are more involved in firm management, and perform better in simulated management tasks. Organizational barriers within MNCs can thus hinder knowledge transfers and lead to an under-investment in English relative to the social optimum.

  • Peter Morrow: The Long-Run Labor Market Effects of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement

    341 Eggers Hall

    This paper assesses the long-run effects of the 1988 Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA) on the Canadian labor market using matched longitudinal administrative data for the years 1984-2004. The authors simultaneously examine the labor market effects of increased export expansion and import competition, generally finding adverse effects of Canadian tariff cuts and favorable effects of U.S. cuts, though both effects are small. Workers initially employed in industries that experienced larger Canadian tariff concessions exhibit a heightened probability of layoffs at large firms, but little impact on long-run cumulative earnings. Lower earnings and years worked at the initial employer are offset by gains in other manufacturing industries, construction, and services. Canadian workers quickly transitioned from industries facing import competition, with the majority of industry adjustment occurring among new entrants to the labor market.

  • Meredith Startz: Cutting Out the Middleman: The Structure of Chains of Intermediation

    341 Eggers Hall

    Distribution of goods often involves chains of intermediaries engaged in sequential buying and reselling. Why do such chains arise, and how do they affect consumers and their ability to gain from trade? This paper shows that the existence of internal economies of scale in trade logistics is a sufficient mechanism to yield chains with multiple intermediaries, and that this suggests consumers in developing countries are more likely to be served via long chains. Contrary to common wisdom, cutting middlemen out can, but does not necessarily, benefit consumers. Instead, there is a fundamental tradeoff between costs and entry that means even pure reductions in trade costs can have perverse effects. The proposed mechanism is simple, but can account for empirical patterns in wholesale firm size, prices and markups that we document using original survey data on imported consumer goods in Nigeria. We estimate a structural version of the model for distribution of Chinese-made apparel in Nigeria, and describe endogenous restructuring of chains and the resulting impacts on consumer welfare in response to counterfactual changes in regulation, e-commerce technologies, and transport infrastructure.

  • Priyaranjan Jha: Monopsonistic Labor Markets and International Trade

    Virtual

    This project studies the impact of trade on wage inequality and welfare when the labor market is monopsonistic. Firm heterogeneity in productivity along with workers' idiosyncratic preferences for different firms generate between-firm wage inequality for workers with identical skills. If monopsony power is high, inequality increases monotonically with trade liberalization. The model features a novel welfare channel of workers' “love of firm variety." Trade liberalization provides additional welfare gains through the firm-variety channel when monopsony power is high but detracts from welfare gains when monopsony power is low.

  • VIRTUAL: Managing Your Money in College and Beyond

    virtual

    This workshop is open to all undergraduate students as part of the Professional Development Series hosted by the International relations Program and the Program in Citizenship and Civic Engagement. Facilitated by Kelsey Woodford, Assistant Director of Financial Literacy, Office of Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs. This workshop will teach you about financial resources available on campus, how to build a budget, how to understand credit, and how to build goals for health finances. You must pre-register for this workshop. Register for this event through Handshake. This event is sponsored by the International Relations Program and Program in Citizenship and Civic Engagement. For additional information, please contact Amy Kennedy at amkenned@syr.edu.

  • VIRTUAL: Working in the Intelligence Community

    virtual

    This workshop is open to all undergraduate students as part of the Professional Development Series hosted by the International Relations Program and the Program in Citizenship and Civic Engagement. This discussion will highlight the skills and characteristics that students need to pursue careers in the intelligence community as well as ways to search for opportunities in this field. You must pre-register to participate in this workshop. Register for this event through Handshake. Presented by: Professor Murrett is a faculty member in the Maxwell School’s Department of Public Administration and International Affairs and the Deputy Director of the Syracuse University Institute for Security Policy and Law. Previously, he served as Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Director of Naval Intelligence, and Vice Director of Intelligence on the Joint Staff. Professor Murrett teaches undergraduate courses on the U.S. intelligence community. Professor Patel is the Maxwell School's Gregg Professor of Practice in Korean and East Asian Affairs, teaching for the Policy Studies Program and Department of Public Administration and International Affairs. Previously, she previously managed HSBC’s regional financial crime intelligence and analytics functions in Asia-Pacific. She has also worked in the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the DNI Open Source Center, and the Central Intelligence Agency. Professor Patel teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on intelligence analysis and illicit finance. This event is sponsored by the International Relations Program and Program in Citizenship and Civic Engagement. For additional information, please contact Amy Kennedy at amkenned@syr.edu.

  • VIRTUAL: Managing Your Money in College and Beyond

    virtual

    This workshop is open to all undergraduate students as part of the Professional Development Series hosted by the International relations Program and the Program in Citizenship and Civic Engagement. Facilitated by Kelsey Woodford, Assistant Director of Financial Literacy, Office of Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs. This workshop will teach you about financial resources available on campus, how to build a budget, how to understand credit, and how to build goals for health finances. Register for this event through Handshake. This event is sponsored by the International Relations Program. For additional information, please contact Amy Kennedy at amkenned@syr.edu.

  • Economics Panel Discussion: The Election and Economic Policy

    Zoom

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