The Economic Challenges of Globalization

The Economic Challenges of Globalization

Economists tend to believe that free international trade has been beneficial for societies. The public often thinks it increases unemployment and inequality, and social instability. These public concerns are reflected in the recent U.S. China trade war and Brexit. The COVID pandemic further exposed the fragility of the global trading system. This lecture will try to reconcile these different perspectives between the economists and the public. It will discuss the concentrated economic costs of trade liberalizations and the uneven sharing in the benefits of international trade within societies. The lecture will conclude with a discussion of what societies can do to better manage the costs and risks of international trade, while preserving its benefits.

Pavcnik’s research examines how international trade affects the lives of workers, families and children, with implications for inequality and poverty in lower income countries. She also studies how companies respond to the challenges and opportunities of globalization. Pavcnik is current editor of the World Bank Economic Review and co-editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives. She is past co-editor of the Journal of Development Economics and Journal of International Economics. She has been a consultant on global trade to the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, United Nations, and the U.S. Department of Labor. At Dartmouth, she served as Chair of the Department of Economics and received the Dean of Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentoring and Advising. She is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. A native of Slovenia, Pavcnik received a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and earned a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University.

This lecture is sponsored by the economics department and Phi Beta Kappa.

The UIC Department of Economics provides undergraduate and graduate students rigorous training in modern economic theory and data analysis to better understand our society and train them for a range of careers.

Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest academic honor society, inviting into membership outstanding seniors who have attained a liberal arts education with demonstrated breadth and depth.