Daniel McDowell, associate professor of political science, co-authored a piece for the Washington Post's Monkey Cage blog on the Trump administration's decision to introduce exchange rate policy into its ongoing trade negotiations with China. According to McDowell and co-author David Steinberg, US pressure can nudge Chinese exchange rate policy in the desired direction in some circumstances, however, publicly pressuring China is often ineffective and can even backfire because it changes the political calculus for China's leaders.

Data from their forthcoming study with Dimitar Gueorguiev, assistant professor of political science, shows that telling people that the US wants China to appreciate its currency makes Chinese people more likely to think that appreciation will benefit the US and this, in turn, makes them less supportive of currency appreciation. 02/26/19