Consulting and Advising | International Trade & Trade Policy

Most academic research in economics is stimulated by current policy challenges and addresses real world problems. Yet, often, the gap between the academic analysis and the policy needs is wide, and the dialogue between scholars and policy makers is difficult. Bridging this gap has been an important objective of my professional agenda, and to pursue it I have developed a series of projects and tools that rely on rigorous academic methods to address specific policy needs. I have benefited tremendously from insightful discussions with researchers and policy makers at many international organizations, governments, and think tanks. Specifically, I have provided consulting and advising services to the following:
 
International Organizations: The Economic Research and Statistics Division of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Trade and Integration Finance, Competitiveness Innovation Division of the World Bank, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the DG GROW group of the European Commission (EC), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) of the United Nations (UN), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Prospects Group of the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the Trade, Regional Integration and Investment Climate Group of the World Bank, the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), the Trade and International Integration, the Development Research Group of the World Bank, the CWRC Division of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
 
Governments and National Institutions: The United States International Trade Commission (USITC), the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of the German Government, the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria, Global Affairs Canada (Government of Canada), the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of the Government of Canada, the Federal Ministry of Labor and Economy of the Austrian Government, the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Tourism of the Spanish Government, the Department for International Trade of the UK Government, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy of the UK Government, Industry Canada (Government of Canada), the Ministry of the Economy of the Armenian Government, the Deutsche Bundesbank (DBB), the Bank of Spain (BoS), the Bank of England (BoE).
 
Think Tanks and Research Institutes: The Center for International Economics (ifo Institute, Germany), the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel, Germany), the Bertelsmann Stiftung (Germany), Public Policy Forum (PPF) Canada, the Asia-Pacific Research and Training on Trade (ARTNeT, Bangkok, Thailand), the Center for Corporate Reputation Management (Drexel University, USA), the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Düsseldorf, Germany), the Economic Research Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the International Growth Center (London School of Economics, LSE, UK), and the Centre for Corporate Reputation (Oxford University, UK).
 
Methods, Datasets, and Training Modules: Simulated by needs and gaps that I observed during my advising and consulting work, I wrote some surveys and methodological papers, created some training modules, and co-developed several databases. Specifically, I (i) co-authored the book "An Advanced Guide to Trade Policy Analysis: The Structural Gravity Model", (ii) wrote two surveys on "The Evolution of the Gravity Model" and "The Use of Domestic Flows for Gravity Estimations", (iii) co-authored the methodological papers "General Equilibrium Analysis with the PPML Estimator", "PPML Estimations with High-dimensional Fixed Effects", "Simple Methods to Quantify the Effects of Protection and Liberalization", and "Staggered Difference-in-Differences in Gravity Settings", (iv) created my intensive "Policy with Gravity Course", and (v) co-developed the following databases: the Global Sanctions Database (GSDB), the International Trade and Production Database for Estimation (ITPD-E), the Domestic and International Common Language (DICL), database the International Patent and Citations across Sectors (INPACT-S), database the Granular Trade and Production Activities (GRANTPA) database, and the International Trade and Production Database for Simulation (ITPD-S). All six databases are free public goods.

Training Modules and Workshops