RESEARCH


PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATION


The Trade Impact of the Creation/Disbandment of Diplomatic Relations: The Case Involving Mainland China and Chinese Taiwan

Review of International Economics 33(4), 870–885, 2025.

Review of International Economics


This paper studies developing countries that switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Mainland China between 1995 and 2019. The results show an asymmetric change in trade: imports from Mainland China increased, exports to Mainland China declined, imports from Taiwan fell, and exports to Taiwan were largely unchanged.


WORKING PAPERS AND RESEARCH IN PROGRESS


Diplomatic Leverage and Political Signaling: Recipient Strategy in Securing ODA Commitments

Working paper


This project asks how aid-recipient countries use their presence and voting behavior at the United Nations to influence official development assistance. It studies delegation size and composition, as well as voting alignment with the United States, across 93 developing countries.


The South-South Development Promise and the Substitution Effect: Evidence from Malawi's Diplomatic Pivot


This paper studies Malawi's 2007 switch in diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Mainland China. It examines whether the resulting gains in bilateral trade and investment added to Malawi's international economic activity or displaced existing commercial partners.


Garment Manufacturing and Women's Work, Reproduction, and Human Capital Accumulation

With S. M. Shihab Siddiqui. Work in progress.


In the Court of Public Opinion: Crowd Effects on Refereeing Judgment

With Jeffrey Cross. Work in progress.

This paper uses COVID-19 stadium closures in European soccer to study how crowd pressure affects racial disparities in refereeing. It finds that removing spectators reduced disparities in the treatment of African players in Spain and Italy, mainly when referees decided whether a rule had been violated.