RESEARCH

Journal Articles

Other Research

Current Projects

  • "Do Trade Agreements Actually Reduce Trade Volatility?" with Josh Ederington and Yoonseon Han (July 2021 version)
    ABSTRACT: A frequently stated objective of regional and multilateral trade agreements is to stabilize trade and reduce volatility in trade flows. We examine whether trade agreements accomplish this goal. Using a structural gravity approach we identify two potential channels through which international trade institutions may influence the volatility of bilateral trade flows: by affecting the variance of trade barriers and by affecting the covariance of economic outcomes between the trading partners. We then use a panel of bilateral industry-level trade data to empirically examine the effects of regional trade agreements and GATT/WTO membership on export earnings volatility. We find some evidence that joining a multilateral trade agreement such as the GATT does make export earnings less volatile. However, we find that signing a regional trade agreement actually increases measured volatility in bilateral exports and that this increase in volatility increases as the trading partners become more integrated.

  • "The Hospital and Healthcare Markets in Rural and Urban Communities," with Alison Davis, Elham Erfanian, Michael Clark, Bethany Paris, Andrew Owen, and Marissa Hartsoe. Project funded by U.S. Department of Agriculture Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) grant.