I am the Sidney Meyer Professor of International Economics at Grinnell College.
Associate Editor @ the Review of International Economics,
Research Fellow @ IZA, CESIfo, and ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin
Social Media @HaleUtar @haleutar.bsky.social
For a complete CV click here.
Firms and Labor in Times of Violence: Evidence from the Mexican Drug War, 2024, The World Bank Economic Review, Vol. 39, Issue 3, August 2025.
Read on VoxEU: Firms and labour markets in times of violence, VOXEU Column, 28 March 2021.
WP versions: (IZA DP # 15160, CESifo Working Paper No. 7345)
International Trade and Job Polarization: Evidence at the Worker Level, with W. Keller, Journal of International Economics, Vol. 145, 2023, 103810 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinteco.2023.103810 Online Appendix
Read on VoxEU: Globalization and Polarization in the Wake of Brexit, VOXEU Column, 05 July 2016.
Globalization, Gender, and the Family, with W. Keller, Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 89, Issue 6, November 2022, pp. 3381–3409.
doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdac012 Online Appendix
Featured in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, FAZ
Read on VoxEU: Biological clocks, import competition, and the gender gap in earnings, VOXEU Column, 05 March 2020.
Also featured on VoxChina: Biological Explanation for the Gender Gap in Earnings, VoxChina Column, 15 April 2020.
Workers beneath the Floodgates: Impact of Low-Wage Import Competition and Workers' Adjustment, Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 100, No. 4, October 2018, pp. 631-647.
Read on VoxEU: You are needed but not your skills: Challenges to Manufacturing Workers in the wake of Globalization, VOXEU Column, Dec 06, 2018
Featured at the World Economic Forum link
Characteristics of International Trade Intermediaries and Their Location in the Supply Chain, in Globalization: Strategies and Effects, Editors: B. J. Christensen, & C. Kowalczyk, 2017, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
Credit Rationing, Risk Aversion and Industrial Evolution in Developing Countries, with E. Bond and J. Tybout, International Economic Review, August 2015, pp. 695-722.
When the Floodgates Open: Northern Firms' Response to Removal of Trade Quotas on Chinese Goods, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, October 2014, Vol. 6, No. 4. pp. 226-250.
International Competition and Industrial Evolution: Evidence from the Impact of Chinese Competition on Mexican Maquiladoras, with L. Ruiz, Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 105, November 2013, pp. 267-287.
The US-China Trade War and Relocation of Global Value Chains to Mexico, CESIfo WP # 10638, 2023, Accepted. Review of Economics and Statistics.
Shifting sands in cross-border supply chains: How Mexico emerged as a key player in the US-China trade war, VoxEU Column, 9 December, 2023
Also featured on VoxDev : How Mexico emerged as a key player in the US-China trade war, VoxDev, 26 April, 2024
Technology Hubs or Backwater? Lessons on Structural Change from Germany’s Coal Regions, with Janssen, Keller, and Vallizadeh, 2021.
Elsewhere in the Americas: How U.S. Tariffs on China Boosted Mexico's Manufacturing Employment and Output, 2025.
Visiting Scholar, Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia (INEGI), Mexico City, March 2024, December 2024, March 2025, May 2025, August 2025
Visiting Scholar, Dartmouth College, April/May 2023
Visiting Scholar, Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia (INEGI) and Banco de Mexico, Mexico City, February 2023
Ranked by Handelsblatt (Forschungmonitoring 2017) as among the top 100 economists in the DACH countries
Invited Research Visit, the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), University College London, March 2019
Invited Research Visit, the Center for Economic Studies (CES), Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, April 2016
Visiting Scholar, Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia (INEGI), Aguascalientes, Nov 2010
Visiting Scholar, Department of Economics, Labor Markets Dynamics and Growth Center, University of Aarhus, Denmark, Fall 2009
Colorado European Union Center of Excellence, Faculty Research Grant, Spring 2009
National Science Foundation Research Grant, “Openness, Industrial Evolution and Job Flows”, (SES 061788 subcontracted from Pennsylvania State University as PI under 3383-UC-NSF-7888).
Full Scholarship, Pennsylvania State University, Department of Economics, 2001-2006
Haci Omer Sabanci Scholarship, 1993-1999, awarded for outstanding performance in the National Student Placement Examination
National Bureau of Economic Research Summer Institute (NBER-SI), International Trade and Investment, Cambridge, MA
CESIfo Venice Summer Institute — The Regulation of Multi-Firm Groups: Combining Advances from Trade and Public Economics, Venice
Workshop on International Economic Networks (WIEN), Vienna
BIS-BoE-ECB-IMF Spillover Conference, the European Central Bank, Frankfurt
International Trade and Industrial Policy in a Changing World, the Bank of France, Paris
Institutions Trade & Economic Development (InsTED) Workshop, University of Alberta
Inter-American Development Bank, D.C.
OECD, Paris
Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona
Sabanci University
Owens Conference "Shifting Patterns of Globalization: Trade, Migration, and North American Integration", Dallas, TX
CESIfo Global Economy Conference, Munich, Germany
ABFER (The Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research ) Conference, Singapore
GEN (Global Economic Networks) Workshop, Tübingen, Germany
Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP) Annual Academic Conference, Nottingham, UK
Danish International Economic Workshop, Aarhus, Denmark
GGDC Conference, Groningen, Netherlands
Comparative Analysis of Enterprise Data (CAED) Conference, Pennsylvania State University
The United States International Trade Commission (USITC)
Iowa State University
Colby College
Dartmouth College
Empirical Investigation in International Trade (EIIT), Syracuse University
TIGN (Trade, Integration, and Growth Network) Conference, Buenos Aires
IZA workshop on “Labor Markets and Innovation during Times of War and Reconstruction"
SEA Meeting, New Orleans
Advancing sustainability of critical supply chains in developing countries, ifW Kiel
The European Trade Study Group, University of Surrey, UK
The Penn State Alumni Conference, State College, PA
Koç University Winter Workshop, Istanbul
The United States International Trade Commission (USITC)
The Society of Labor Economics (SOLE) Conference, Minneapolis
Warwick University, Political Violence, and Labor Market Outcomes Workshop
Inter-American Development Bank, D.C.
Syracuse University, NY
University of Cardiff, UK
Iowa State University, Ames
CAED Conference, University of Coimbra, Portugal
The Latin American Meeting of the Econometric Society, LACEA-LAMES
North American Meeting of the Urban Economics Association
Society for the Study of Economic Inequality (ECINEQ) Meeting, London School of Economics
Trade, Technology, and Demographics, 6th international conference of the DFG Priority Program 1764
Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam
National Bureau of Economic Research Summer Institute (NBER-SI),Gender in the Economy
The Econometric Society and Bocconi University Virtual World Congress
EALE SOLE AASLE World Conference
CESIfo Area Conference on Global Economy
AEL Conference of the Research Group on Development Economics
Online Economics of Crime Seminar
CReAM, University College London
University of Trento, Italy
IZA (Institute of Labor Economics), Bonn
University of Cologne, Germany
European Research Workshop in International Trade (ERWIT), London School of Economics and CEPR
6th Institutions Trade & Economic Development (InsTED) Workshop, Nottingham, UK
Empirical Investigations in International Trade (EIIT), University of Colorado, Boulder
10th Trade, Integration and Growth Network (TIGN) Conference, Bogotá, Colombia
CAED Conference, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
The International Conference of the DFG Labor Network : "Technology, Demographics and the Labor Market", Cologne
CESIfo Area Conference on Applied Microeconomics, Munich
North American Winter Meeting of the Econometric Society (ASSA), session on Crime and Development, Atlanta
the 13 Winter Workshop in Economics at Koç University, Istanbul
Bielefeld University, Germany; Bogazici University, Istanbul; Central European University, Budapest; Copenhagen Business School; Colorado State University, Fort Collins; ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), Switzerland; Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland; GIGA – German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg; Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg; Johns Hopkins SAIS; Johannes Kepler University of Linz; Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) (x2); Koc University, Istanbul; Maastricht University; Norwegian School of Economics; Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada; Sabanci University, Istanbul; Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SHUFE); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; University of Aarhus, Denmark; University of Colorado, Boulder; University of Duisburg-Essen; University of Göttingen; University of Groningen; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; University of Munich (x2); University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney; University of Nottingham; University of Texas, Austin; University of Virginia; World Bank, Washington, D.C.
COURSES TAUGHT
Graduate (PhD) Teaching
Empirical Industrial Organization (Bielefeld University 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
Industrial Organization (University of Colorado 2009, 2011)
Seminar in International Trade (Bielefeld University 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018)
Undergraduate Teaching
Seminar in International Trade (Grinnell College 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
International Economics (Grinnell College 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025)
International Economics (Bielefeld University 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19)
Industrial Organization and Regulation (University of Colorado, 2007, 2010)
Multinational Firms in the Global Economy (2010, 2011)
Economics of the European Union and Its Enlargement Process (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
Intermediate Microeconomics (Penn State University, 2004, 2005)
STUDENT ADVISING
Ph.D. THESIS SUPERVISION
Luis Bernardo Torres Ruiz, "Mexican maquiladoras: Evidence from plant-level panel data'', University of Colorado, 2011
first placement: Banco de Mexico, current: Federal Reserve Bank at Dallas
Victor Eduardo Zapata Garcia, "Essays on Labor Economics and International Trade", 2019.
MASTER THESIS SUPERVISION
Melana Kalpakidou, "The Impact of Financial Crisis on Firms' Growth and Productivity: Evidence from Greece", 2018.
Huyen Nguyen, "Examination of Occupation Wage Gap with respect to Globalization", 2019.
UNDERGRADUATE HONOR THESIS SUPERVISION
Steven Cryer, "The impact of labor market regulations on the size of informal economy", University of Colorado, 2007 (magna cum laude)
HONORS EXAMINER at SWARTHMORE COLLEGE, 2021
Francis Dillon
Matthew Salah
Tom Wang
Ph.D. THESIS SECOND ADVISOR
Robert Genthner, “Firm dynamics and regional development in Indonesia”, Göttingen University, 2022.
Lasha Chochua, "Essays in Political Economy of International Trade Policy", Bielefeld University, 2019.
Niklas Herzig, "Essays in International Trade", Bielefeld University, 2019.
Ph.D. THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER
Toni Glaser, "Essays on Globalization and Economic Policy", Bielefeld University, 2015
first placement: the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs
Watcharapong Ratisukpimol, "A Theory and Some Empirics on Modern Maritime Piracy", University of Colorado, 2011
first placement: Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
Tianle Zhang, "Three Essays on Innovation and Information Economics", University of Colorado, 2010
first placement: School of Accounting and Finance, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hong Kong
Molly Lipscomb, "Three essays on environmental issues in developing countries", University of Colorado, 2009
first placement: Notre Dame University
Cong Khai Dinh, "Trade Effects of the WTO and Anti-dumping Policy in Developing Countries", University of Colorado, 2009
first placement: Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Karuna Wiwattanakantang, "Three essays on fiscal competition, the value of commitment, and foreign direct investment determination", University of Colorado, 2008 (completed)
MASTER THESIS SECOND ADVISOR
Homa Haddad, "The Impact of Trade Sanctions on Iran'', 2018.
Alexander Ringbeck, "Bilateral investment treaties and investor-state dispute settlement'', 2019.
Julius Ferdinand Loermann, "Wage Growth by Means of Job Changes and Promotions: Empirical Evidence for Germany'', Bielefeld University, 2015.
Clara Mareike Pott, "Intergenerational Educational Mobility: Empirical Evidence for Germany'', Bielefeld University, 2015.
Associate Editor: Review of International Economics, 2021 - .
Refereeing for: American Economic Review (AER), Econometrica (ECMA), Review of Economic Studies (REStud), Journal of the European Economic Association (JEEA), International Economic Review (IER), Review of Economics and Statistics (ReStat), Economic Journal (EJ), Journal of Political Economy (JPE), Journal of Development Economics (JDE), Journal of International Economics (JIE), Journal of Labor Economics (JOLE), European Economic Review (EER), Canadian Journal of Economics (CJE), Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking (JMCB), Demography, Journal of Economics & Management Strategy (JEMS), Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (JEBO), Scandinavian Journal of Economics (SJE), World Bank Economic Review (WBER), Demography, Economic Inquiry (EI), Empirical Economics (EE), Southern Economic Journal (SEJ), Review of International Economics (ROIE), International Review of Economics and Finance, International Economics and Economic Policy, Review of World Economics (ROWE), Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, Asian Journal of Social Science, Economie et Statistique.
Reviewer for: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST), The Leverhulme Trust, German Research Foundation (DFG – Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
Chairing sessions at:
Comparative Analysis of Enterprise Data (CAED) Conference 2024; The European Trade Study Group (ETSG) Surrey 2023; The Latin American Meeting of the Econometric Society, LACEA-LAMES 2021; CESIfo Area Conference on Global Economy 2020; CESIfo Area Conference on Applied Microeconomics 2019; Ljubljana Empirical Trade Conference 2018; 2nd International Conference on DFG Labor Network (SPP 1764): Occupations, Skill, and the Labor Market 2016; International Industrial Organization Conference 2012; International Industrial Organization Conference 2011; International Industrial Organization Conference 2010
Discussant at:
Empirical Investigation in International Trade Conference (EIIT), Purdue University, 2024; Danish International Economics Workshop 2024; Women in International Economics 2023; Empirical Investigation in International Trade Conference (EIIT), Syracuse University, 2023; American Economic Association Annual Meetings 2023; Warwick University, Political Violence, and Labor Markets Workshop 2022; North American Meeting of the Urban Economics Association 2021; Trade, Integration, and Growth Network (TIGN) Conference 2021; Ljubljana Empirical Trade Conference 2018; Sardinian Empirical Trade Conference 2017; Ljubljana Empirical Trade Conference 2015; International Industrial Organization Conference 2015; Empirical Investigations in Trade and Investment Conference (EIIT) 2013; International Industrial Organization Conference 2012; International Industrial Organization Conference 2011; International Industrial Organization Conference 2010; American Economic Association Annual Meetings 2009; Empirical Investigation in International Trade Conference (EIIT) 2008; International Industrial Organization Conference 2007; Southern Economic Association Meetings 2007
Mentoring for Junior Economists
CSWEP CeMENT Mentoring Workshop, 2025, Chicago
Women in International Economics Conference, 2023, Rochester
Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP), the 2022 ASSA Annual Meeting
Women in International Economics Conference, 2022, Minneapolis
Women in International Economics Conference, 2021
Women in International Economics Conference, 2020
Graduate Student Training, European Doctorate in Economics Erasmus Mundus, Berlin 2018
Selection and Scientific Committees
Scientific Committee, Comparative Analysis of Enterprise Data (CAED) Conference, Pennsylvania State University, 2024
Selection Committee, ROWE Young Economist Award, 2015