Economics: Research Guide

This study advances the economic development scholarship through three key contributions. First, it examines the impact of distributional energy justice (hereafter referred to as energy justice) on inclusive human development (IHDI) in Africa. Second, we investigate how climate readiness moderates the effect of energy justice on IHDI. Third, we explore whether the joint effect of energy justice and climate readiness differs across low- and high-income African countries. We make these contributions using macro data for 36 African countries from 2010 to 2020. The results reveal that energy justice promotes IHDI. The contingency analysis also demonstrates that climate readiness amplifies the po..

This study advances the economic development scholarship through three key contributions. First, it examines the impact of distributional energy justice (hereafter referred to as energy justice) on inclusive human development (IHDI) in Africa. Second, we investigate how climate readiness moderates the effect of energy justice on IHDI. Third, we explore whether the joint effect of energy justice and climate readiness differs across low- and high-income African countries. We make these contributions using macro data for 36 African countries from 2010 to 2020. The results reveal that energy justice promotes IHDI. The contingency analysis also demonstrates that climate readiness amplifies the po..

The primary objective of this paper is to explore the determinants of the level of, and trends over time in, Japan's household saving rate, with emphasis on the impact of the age structure of the population, and to make projections about future trends therein. The paper finds that Japan's household saving rate has not always been high either absolutely or relative to other countries, contrary to popular belief, and that, if we confine ourselves to the postwar period, it was only during the 25-year period from 1961 to 1986 that it exceeded 15%. Past and future trends in Japan's household saving rate can largely be explained by changes in the age structure of her population, but declines in th..

Industrial symbiosis fosters circularity by enabling firms to repurpose residual resources, yet its emergence is constrained by socio-spatial frictions that shape costs, matching opportunities, and market efficiency. Existing models often overlook the interaction between spatial structure, market design, and adaptive firm behavior, limiting our understanding of where and how symbiosis arises. We develop an agent-based model where heterogeneous firms trade byproducts through a spatially embedded double-auction market, with prices and quantities emerging endogenously from local interactions. Leveraging reinforcement learning, firms adapt their bidding strategies to maximize profit while accoun..

This chapter examines how multinational corporations (MNCs) collectively address plastic pollution in emerging economies through meta-organizations. While existing literature highlights the limitations of voluntary corporate action, we analyse how MNCs leverage collective platforms to promote Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and influence regulatory processes. Drawing on five case studies from West Africa and Southeast Asia, we show that subsidiaries of MNCs create meta-organizations that combine corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts with political action. At the inter-organizational level, these platforms support a specific form of mandatory regulation that we define as "hybri..

This paper examines divergent economic trajectories in Latin America between the late nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century through the lens of informal empire, fiscal policy, and institutional development. We construct a country–commodity panel covering the period 1850–1950 to assess the impact of foreign corporations on commodity production in seven Latin American countries—Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela—that experienced economic take-off under an export-led growth model. We find evidence that foreign corporations promoted key commodity exports, although these results are contingent on the inclusion of Venezuela’s oil indus..

We study how uneven gains from globalization can endogenously generate protectionism as a political equilibrium. Using U.S. data, we document that regions more exposed to import competition display stronger opposition to globalization, especially among households with little financial wealth, and that firms in trade-exposed sectors sharply increase lobbying expenditures. To interpret these patterns, we develop and quantify a general equilibrium Ricardian model with heterogeneous households, input–output linkages, and endogenous trade policy shaped by voting and lobbying. Distributional shocks reallocate political support among voters, while lobbying propagates through production networks, ..

We study how uneven gains from globalization can endogenously generate protectionism as a political equilibrium. Using U.S. data, we document that regions more exposed to import competition display stronger opposition to globalization, especially among households with little financial wealth, and that firms in trade-exposed sectors sharply increase lobbying expenditures. To interpret these patterns, we develop and quantify a general equilibrium Ricardian model with heterogeneous households, input–output linkages, and endogenous trade policy shaped by voting and lobbying. Distributional shocks reallocate political support among voters, while lobbying propagates through production networks, ..

We study how uneven gains from globalization can endogenously generate protectionism as a political equilibrium. Using U.S. data, we document that regions more exposed to import competition display stronger opposition to globalization, especially among households with little financial wealth, and that firms in trade-exposed sectors sharply increase lobbying expenditures. To interpret these patterns, we develop and quantify a general equilibrium Ricardian model with heterogeneous households, input–output linkages, and endogenous trade policy shaped by voting and lobbying. Distributional shocks reallocate political support among voters, while lobbying propagates through production networks, ..

We examine the impacts arising from net-zero related extraction of metals, mineral and clean energy on indigenous rights and livelihoods in Colombia, and identify policy and social movement responses. A scoping review method combined database searches in SCOPUS, Policy Commons and Overton with a grey literature search. In total, we screened abstracts and titles of 1050 documents, assessed 95 full-text records for eligibility, and included 34 documents for final review. We identified two core themes: green dispossession and renewable energy extraction impacts in La Guajira, sub divided into cultural, socio-political and environmental impacts; and resistance strategies to green extractivism, s..

We examine the impacts arising from net-zero related extraction of metals, mineral and clean energy on indigenous rights and livelihoods in Colombia, and identify policy and social movement responses. A scoping review method combined database searches in SCOPUS, Policy Commons and Overton with a grey literature search. In total, we screened abstracts and titles of 1050 documents, assessed 95 full-text records for eligibility, and included 34 documents for final review. We identified two core themes: green dispossession and renewable energy extraction impacts in La Guajira, sub divided into cultural, socio-political and environmental impacts; and resistance strategies to green extractivism, s..

We use a newly assembled dataset covering all Egyptian corporations, their founders, and political officeholders, to demonstrate the differential impact of political connections on firm performance across two distinctive political and economic contexts. Before Egypt’s independence in 1922, political connections reduced firm profitability, as connected firms were perceived to be aligned with the anti-colonial, nationalist movement, unsettling investors. After independence, connections improved firm outcomes by granting preferential access to incorporation and shielding connected companies from competition. These dynamics reflect the shift from a laissez-faire colonial regime to a nationalis..

We use a newly assembled dataset covering all Egyptian corporations, their founders, and political officeholders, to demonstrate the differential impact of political connections on firm performance across two distinctive political and economic contexts. Before Egypt’s independence in 1922, political connections reduced firm profitability, as connected firms were perceived to be aligned with the anti-colonial, nationalist movement, unsettling investors. After independence, connections improved firm outcomes by granting preferential access to incorporation and shielding connected companies from competition. These dynamics reflect the shift from a laissez-faire colonial regime to a nationalis..

The financing of long-term care services and supports (LTSS) relies heavily on self-insurance in the form of housing or financial wealth. Exploiting both local market variation in housing prices and individual-level variation in stock market wealth from 1996 to 2016, we show that exogenous wealth shocks significantly reduce the probability of LTCI coverage, without altering Medicaid eligibility among people with housing and financial assets. The effect of shocks to liquid wealth strongly dominates the effect of housing wealth changes. A $100 K increase in housing (financial) wealth reduces the likelihood of LTCI coverage by 1.24 (3.22) percentage points.

The return of the state and intensifying great power rivalries have made grand strategy a central concern for corporations. Extending the concept of nonmarket strategy into the realm of international balance-of-power dynamics, this book analyzes sixty-five historical and contemporary cases of firms acting as strategic actors alongside states in global power competition. The book shows how corporations cultivate forms of smart power that complement and, at times, surpass those of the state, integrating corporate and grand strategic objectives. It identifies six archetypes of corporations as grand strategists: the exceptionalist, the techno-utopian, the statist, the semi-mercantilist, the stew..

Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) have regained prominence as international institutions search for ways to respond to recurring financial crises, rising inequalities, and accelerating climate change. As the only international reserve asset not tied to a national currency, SDRs have been debated as potential instruments for redistributive and ecological purposes, particularly since the unprecedented 650 billion USD allocation of 2021. Yet the terms of these debates reveal the persistent dominance of macro-financial logics over alternative framings. This article develops an analysis of how institutional discourses on SDR reform reflect and reproduce the tension between international monetary hier..

Food choices and in particular meat consumption have major impacts on the local and global environment, which is why the topic is gaining attention in environmental economics and other disciplines. In this study, we investigate the effect of increased visibility on food choices, for which there has been little research to date. We present findings from a field experiment among researchers at a large environmental economics conference. When registering for the three-days conference and prior to choosing between vegan, vegetarian, or meat/fish lunches, half of the participants were informed that their choice would be visibly printed on their conference name badge. The remaining half were infor..

Food choices and in particular meat consumption have major impacts on the local and global environment, which is why the topic is gaining attention in environmental economics and other disciplines. In this study, we investigate the effect of increased visibility on food choices, for which there has been little research to date. We present findings from a field experiment among researchers at a large environmental economics conference. When registering for the three-days conference and prior to choosing between vegan, vegetarian, or meat/fish lunches, half of the participants were informed that their choice would be visibly printed on their conference name badge. The remaining half were infor..

Food choices and in particular meat consumption have major impacts on the local and global environment, which is why the topic is gaining attention in environmental economics and other disciplines. In this study, we investigate the effect of increased visibility on food choices, for which there has been little research to date. We present findings from a field experiment among researchers at a large environmental economics conference. When registering for the three-days conference and prior to choosing between vegan, vegetarian, or meat/fish lunches, half of the participants were informed that their choice would be visibly printed on their conference name badge. The remaining half were infor..

The importance of institutions and innovation for regional development is well established. How these two factors interact under different historical legacies and urban-regional contexts remains, however, insufficiently understood. This paper identifies which combinations of institutional and innovation indicators most effectively classify regions into distinct developmental archetypes, revealing critical thresholds that redirect regional trajectories. Employing decision-tree analysis on 233 EU NUTS-2 regions, we analyse 15 indicators spanning institutional quality, technological readiness, business sophistication, and innovation. This methodology uncovers non-linear relationships that tradi..

The importance of institutions and innovation for regional development is well established. How these two factors interact under different historical legacies and urban-regional contexts remains, however, insufficiently understood. This paper identifies which combinations of institutional and innovation indicators most effectively classify regions into distinct developmental archetypes, revealing critical thresholds that redirect regional trajectories. Employing decision-tree analysis on 233 EU NUTS-2 regions, we analyse 15 indicators spanning institutional quality, technological readiness, business sophistication, and innovation. This methodology uncovers non-linear relationships that tradi..

The importance of institutions and innovation for regional development is well established. How these two factors interact under different historical legacies and urban-regional contexts remains, however, insufficiently understood. This paper identifies which combinations of institutional and innovation indicators most effectively classify regions into distinct developmental archetypes, revealing critical thresholds that redirect regional trajectories. Employing decision-tree analysis on 233 EU NUTS-2 regions, we analyse 15 indicators spanning institutional quality, technological readiness, business sophistication, and innovation. This methodology uncovers non-linear relationships that tradi..

Using data on Chinese A-share listed firms and regions from 2011–2023, this paper employs a difference-in-differences (DID) framework to evaluate the productivity returns to artificial intelligence (AI) application from both firm-level and societal perspectives. The findings are as follows: First, AI intensity significantly increases firms' total factor productivity (TFP). Second, AI intensity significantly increases social TFP. Third, green financial innovation exerts a significant positive mediating effect on the pathway from AI intensity to firm TFP. Fourth, green financial innovation also partially mediates the pathway from AI intensity to social TFP. Substantively, the paper links mic..

Q4 2024 was the first full quarter where the new U.S.-South Korea trade agenda hit the ground. A 15 percent tariff rate went into effect, a USD 350 billion investment commitment was formalized, and both sides started turning months of negotiations into concrete deals. The October 31 strategic investment memorandum of understanding (MOU), which the…

The following is part of a new miniseries from KEI surveying the most important developments and trends in the U.S.-South Korea relationship in 2025. You can read all year-in-review pieces by clicking here. In 2025, tariffs emerged as one of U.S. President Donald Trump’s most visible and legally contested economic policy tools. While the administration…

Isabel Jean Wecht is the Office Coordinator at the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI). Prior to her current role, she was a Summer Research Fellow with the National Committee…