Consulting and Advising | International Trade & Trade Policy

Most academic research in economics addresses real world problems, and much of it is stimulated by current policy challenges. Yet, very often, the gap between academic analysis and 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 achieve it I have developed a series of projects that propose and apply rigorous scholarly methods to answer specific policy questions and to address current economic challenges. I also have benefited tremendously from insightful discussions with a number of colleagues and policy makers from international organizations, national governments, and think tanks.
 
My research has been supported and used for policy decisions by leading international organizations, e.g., the Economic Research and Statistics Division (the World Trade Organization, WTO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 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 Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), the Development Research Group (The World Bank), the Trade and Integration Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Division (The World Bank), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), national governments, e.g., the United States International Trade Commission (USITC), the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (German Government), Global Affairs Canada (Government of Canada), the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (Government of Canada), the Department for International Trade (UK Government), the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Düsseldorf, Germany), the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (UK Government), Industry Canada (Government of Canada), the Ministry of the Economy (Armenian Government), the Deutsche Bundesbank (DBB), the Bank of Spain (BoS), the Bank of England (BoE) , and think tanks and research institutes, e.g., the Center for International Economics (ifo Institute), the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), the Bertelsmann Stiftung, Public Policy Forum (PPF) Canada, the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT), the Center for Corporate Reputation Management (Drexel University), the International Growth Center (London School of Economics, LSE), and the Centre for Corporate Reputation (Oxford University).
 
In addition, I have devoted significant efforts to make scholarly methods and cutting-edge academic research accessible to policy makers and to applied economists. My contributions to the book "An Advanced Guide to Trade Policy Analysis: The Structural Gravity Model", the accompanying Gravity Course, the method papers on general equilibrium analysis with the PPML estimator (CESifo, 2015) and PPML estimations with high-dimensional fixed effects (CESifo, 2017), the Global Sanctions Database, the International Trade and Production Database for Estimation, and the Domestic and International Common Language (DICL) database are representative outcomes of these efforts.

---

Consulting Projects and Funded Research

"Building an International Trade and Production Database (ITPD)", 2018-2021
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Ingo Borchert and Mario Larch
Supported by: United States International Trade Commission, U.S. Government.

"Developing a sectoral dynamic gravity model with input-output linkages", 2019-2021
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Mario Larch (through IfW Kiel)
Supported by: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Government of Germany.

"On the partial and general equilibrium effects of WTO membership across sectors and countries ", 2020
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Mario Larch and Erdal Yalcin
Supported by: Department for International Trade, UK Government.

"Quantifying the impact of the economic sanctions on Russia. A structural gravity approach", 2020
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Mario Larch
Supported by: Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Düsseldorf, Germany.

"Estimating the impact of Brexit on international trade", 2020
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Mario Larch
Supported by: Bank of England, UK Government.

"On the heterogeneous effects of membership in the World Trade Organization", 2019
Co-Principal Investigator(s): G. Felbermayr, M. Larch, and E. Yalcin
Supported by: Bertelsmann Stiftung, Germany.

"Developing a sectoral dynamic gravity model with input-output linkages", 2019-2021
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Mario Larch
Supported by: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Government of Germany.

"A Structural Trade Performance Index", 2019
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Mario Larch
Supported by: The United Nations, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

"Trade Costs Harmonization in CEFTA toward EU Membership: A Structural Gravity Approach", 2018
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Mario Larch
Supported by: The World Bank, Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice.

"International Trade Frictions: Measurement, Aggregation, and Decomposition", 2017-2018
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Peter Egger, Mario Larch, and Sergey Nigai
Supported by: The World Trade Organization.

"Trade Liberalization, Growth, and FDI in the Asia-Pacific Region in an Era of Globalization", 2017
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Mario Larch
Supported by: The United Nations, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

"Quantifying the Impact and Effectiveness of International Embargoes", 2017
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Costas Syropoulos
Supported by: The Ifo Center for International Economics.

"Quantifying the Dynamic Gains from Trade: A Structural Approach", 2016-2017
Co-Principal Investigator(s): James Anderson and Mario Larch
Supported by: The United States International Trade Commission.

"On the impact of the Free Trade Agreement between the EU and the Republic of Korea", 2016-2017
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Mario Larch (through Ifo Institute)
Supported by: The European Commission.

"Trade Liberalization and Labor Market Outcomes: A General Equilibrium Gravity Approach", 2015-2016
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Scott Baier
Supported by: The United States International Trade Commission.

"Trade Policy Analysis with the Structural Gravity Model", 2015-2016
Supported by: The World Trade Organization.

"On the Effects of Trade and Investment Agreements on FDI", 2015-2016
Co-Principal Investigator(s):James E. Anderson and Mario Larch
Supported by: Global Affairs Canada, Government Canada.

"Developing a Dynamic Gravity Model of Foreign Direct Investment", 2014-2015
Co-Principal Investigator(s): James E. Anderson and Mario Larch
Supported by: Global Affairs Canada, Government Canada.

"Costs and Internal Barriers to Trade in Canada", April 2013-September 2013
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Delina Agnosteva and James E. Anderson
Supported by: The Public Policy Forum (PPF) Canada.

"Country Reputation and International Trade", 2012-2013
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Boryana Dimitrova and Daniel Korschun
Co-supported by: Center for Corporate Reputation Management at Drexel University,
                             Centre for Corporate Reputation at Oxford University.

"Accounting for Canadian Trade Performance: Real Exchange Rate Effects", 2011-2012
Co-Principal Investigator(s): James E. Anderson
Supported by: The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada.

"Modeling Services Trade and Services Trade Costs", 2011-2012
Co-Principal Investigator(s): James E. Anderson
Supported by: The World Bank.

"Service Trade Costs in Canada", 2010
Co-Principal Investigator(s): James E. Anderson
Supported by: The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada.

"Agricultural Policy, Gravity and Welfare", 2010
Co-Principal Investigator(s): Paul Jensen
Supported by: International Growth Center at London School of Economics.

"Sectoral and Enterprise Size Impacts of Post-9/11 Trading Environment on Canadian Exports to the United States"
Supported by: The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada.

"Internal Trade Costs in Canada", 2007-2008
Co-Principal Investigator(s): James E. Anderson
Supported by: The Department of Industry Canada.

---

Training Modules