After decades of integration, the global economy appears to be entering a new regime characterized by rising trade barriers, heightened geopolitical uncertainty, and a deliberate restructuring of cross-border ties. This conference seeks to bring together leading scholars to analyze the long-run economic consequences of this shift toward deglobalization. We invite submissions that explore how increased friction in international markets and the fragmentation of the global trading system will alter the trajectory of economic development and growth. The objective is to move beyond short-term adjustments and understand the structural shifts caused by reduced cross-country interactions.

We welcome papers addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• International Trade & Reallocation: The reconfiguration of global trade flows, "friend-shoring," and the welfare effects of rising protectionism.

• Economic Growth & Innovation: The impact of reduced market access, scale, and competition on long-run growth, R&D incentives, and the pace of technological progress.

• Idea Diffusion: How fragmentation affects cross-border knowledge spillovers, technology transfer and licensing, and the diffusion of management practices.

• Global Supply Chains: The trade-off between supply chain resilience and efficiency, and the reorganization of production networks in high-risk environments.

• Resource Misallocation: The impact of geopolitical constraints on the efficient allocation of capital and labor across firms, sectors, and countries.

• Structural Change: The effects of "reshoring" policies on domestic industrial composition and the sectoral shift between manufacturing and services.

• Inequality & Distribution: The distributional consequences of deglobalization within and across countries, including impacts on wage polarization and regional disparity.

• Sovereign Debt & Financial Fragmentation: The impact of geopolitical alignment on access to international capital markets, the changing composition of the global creditor base, and the structural constraints on long-run fiscal and debt sustainability.

• Geopolitics & Policy: The weaponization of economic interdependence, sanctions, and the interplay between national security objectives and economic policy.

The conference organizers welcome submissions of both empirical and theoretical research. 

 Submission Process, Rules, and Timeline

• Please submit an electronic version of the paper in PDF using the form at https://forms.gle/mQYgYw9u2E11JUa9A. There is no charge for submissions. The deadline for submissions is May 31, 2026.

• A submitted paper must not be under review at another journal or at JPE Macroeconomics.

• Submissions will be reviewed by the conference scientific committee. Paper selection will be finalized, and accepted authors notified, by the end of June 2026.

• Authors will have to send a draft of their paper to discussants and conference organizers by September 15, 2026, and submit their paper to JPE Macro by January 31st, 2027. 

• Accepted papers will be published in the December 2027 issue of JPE Macro.

Conference Organizers

• Juliane Begenau (Stanford GSB)

• Pete Klenow (Stanford Economics)

• Chris Tonetti (Stanford GSB)