Search Results
Discussion Paper
How Do Trade Disruptions Affect Inflation?
To quantify the effects of trade disruptions on inflation, we construct a measure of bilateral trade costs for a panel of 41 countries using annual data from 1995 through 2020. We then estimate an empirical model linking changes in trade costs to inflation.
Working Paper
Trade Costs and Inflation Dynamics
We explore how shocks to trade costs affect inflation dynamics in the global economy. We exploit bilateral trade flows of final and intermediate goods together with the structure of static trade models that deliver gravity equations to identify exogenous changes in trade costs between countries. We then use a local projections approach to assess the effects of trade cost shocks on consumer price (CPI) inflation. Higher trade costs of final goods lead to large but short-lived increases in inflation, while increases in trade costs of intermediate goods generate small but persistent increases in ...
Discussion Paper
The Effect of US-China Tariff Hikes: Differences in Demand Composition Matter
In this note, we estimate the economic effects of the increases in tariffs between China and the USA since the beginning of 2018, taking into account the investment channel. As of the bilateral Phase One agreement in early 2020, the United States has raised tariffs on about $335 billion of Chinese goods and China has raised tariffs on about $120 billion of US goods.
Working Paper
Globalization, Trade Imbalances and Labor Market Adjustment
We study the role of global trade imbalances in shaping the adjustment dynamics in response to trade shocks. We build and estimate a general equilibrium, multi-country, multi-sector model of trade with two key ingredients: (a) Consumption-saving decisions in each country commanded by representative households, leading to endogenous trade imbalances; (b) labor market frictions across and within sectors, leading to unemployment dynamics and sluggish transitions to shocks. We use the estimated model to study the behavior of labor markets in response to globalization shocks, including shocks to ...
Working Paper
Trade Costs and Inflation Dynamics
We study how trade cost shocks influence inflation. Using bilateral trade flows from detailed global input-output data and a gravity framework, we estimate trade cost shocks and their effects on CPI inflation. Higher trade costs for final goods cause large but short-lived inflation spikes, while increased costs for intermediate inputs trigger more persistent inflation. A multi-country model of inflation with trade in final goods and intermediate inputs replicates these patterns. We show that trade cost shocks and tariffs on imported inputs transmit through global value chains and worsen ...
Working Paper
Managing Capital Flows in the Presence of External Risks
We introduce external risks, in the form of shocks to the level and volatility of world interest rates, into a small open economy model subject to the risk of sudden stops?large recessions together with abrupt reversals in capital inflows| and characterize optimal macroprudential policy in response to these shocks. In the model, collateral constraints create a pecuniary externality that leads to "overborrowing" and sudden stops that arise when the constraints bind. The typical sudden stop generated by the model replicates existing empirical evidence for emerging market economies: Low and ...
Discussion Paper
International Trade and Gender Gaps in College Enrollment
A large body of work suggests that trade affects workers unevenly. By shifting economic activity across occupations, industries, or regions, freer trade can generate gains for some workers and losses for others.