Valerie Smeets
Department of Economics and Business Economics Phone: (+45)87164993
School of Business and Social Sciences email: vas@econ.au.dk
Aarhus University
Fuglesangs Allé 4, DK-8210
Aarhus, DENMARK
Research interests
International Trade, Industrial Organization, Organizational Economics, Personnel Economics, Applied Microeconomics.
Current position
Professor, Aarhus University, Department of Economics and Business, 2021-
CEPR Research Fellow, International Trade and Regional Economics, 2021-
Research member of the Firm and Industry Dynamics (FIND) research center (Aarhus University), 2018-
Previous positions
2016-2021: Professor with special responsibilities, Aarhus University, Department of Economics and Business
2008-2016: Associate professor, Aarhus University, Department of Economics and Business
2005-2007: Assistant professor, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Department of Business Administration
2003-2005: Post-doctoral researcher, Individual Marie Curie Fellowship, Aarhus School of Business, Center for Corporate Performance
Education
1999–2004: Ph.D. in Economics, summa cum laude, Université Libre de Bruxelles.
1997-1999: Master in Economics, cum laude, Université Libre de Bruxelles
1993-1997: Bachelor in Economics, magna cum laude, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Publications
Changing Skill Structure and COVID-19 (2020), Covid Economics, NBER press, Issue 45, August 28 2020. With Elena Mattana and Frederic Warzynski.
Coping with the Crisis and Export Diversification (2020), World Economy, Volume 43, Issue 5 (Special Issue: What Makes a Successful Exporter), May 2020. With Kaleb Girma and Frederic Warzynski.
Performance, Career Dynamics, and Span of Control (2019), Journal of Labor Economics, Volume 37, Number 4, October 2019. With Michael Waldman and Frederic Warzynski.
Rethinking De-Industrialization (2017), Economic Policy, Editor’s choice, Volume 32(89), 5-38. With Andrew Bernard and Frederic Warzynski. NBER working paper.
Can Firms Oversee More Workers with Fewer Managers (2017), IZA World of Labor, February 2017.
An Empirical Analysis of Post-Merger Organizational Integration (2016), Scandinavian Journal of Economics, March 2016. With Mike Gibbs and Kathryn Ierulli.
Estimating Productivity with Multi-Product Firms, Pricing Heterogeneity and the Role of International Trade (2013), Journal of International Economics, lead article, Volume 90 (2), 237-244. With Frederic Warzynski.
Wage Structure and Research Performance of U.S. Economics Departments: Distinguishing Incentives from Sorting (2012), Revue d´Economie Politique, (Special Issue on the Economics of Science), Volume 122 (4), 565-584. With Tom Coupé and Frederic Warzynski.
Does Input Quality Drive Measured Differences in Firm Productivity (2011), International Economic Review, lead article, Volume 52(4), 961-989. With Jeremy Fox. NBER working paper.
Small Open Economy Firms in International Trade: Evidence from Danish Transactions-Level Data (2009), Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift/Danish Economic Journal, Volume 147(2), 175-194. With Tor Eriksson and Frederic Warzynski.
Equal opportunities at Novo Nordisk (2008), World at Work, 16(4), 66-81. With Nikolaj Halse and Frederic Warzynski
Too Many Theories, Too Few Facts? What the Data Tell Us About the Link Between Span of Control, Compensation and Career Dynamics (2008), Labor Economics, Volume 15(4), 687-703. With Frederic Warzynski.
Does the Academic Labor Market Initially Allocate New Graduates Efficiently? (2006), Journal of Economic Perspectives, Volume 20(3), 161-172. With Tom Coupé and Frederic Warzynski.
Incentives, Sorting and Productivity along the Career: Evidence from a Sample of Top Economists (2006), Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, Volume 20(1), 137-167. With Tom Coupé and Frederic Warzynski.
Job Creation, Job Destruction and Voting Behavior in Poland (2006), European Journal of Political Economy, Volume 20, 503-519. With Frederic Warzynski.
Working Papers
Field Choice, Skill Specificity, and Labor Market Disruptions (2025), with Lin Tian and Sharon Traiberman, NBER working paper.
High-Skill Immigration, Offshoring R&D, and Firm Dynamics, with Jingting Fan and Eunhee Lee (2024). R&R, Review of Economic Studies. CEPR working paper. Vox EU Column.
Heterogenous Globalization: Offshoring and Reorganization (2024), with Andrew Bernard, Teresa Fort and Frederic Warzynski. R&R, Review of Economics and Statistics. NBER Working Paper.
Multi-Product Firms, Import Competition, and the Evolution of Firm-product Technical Efficiencies (2024), with Emmanuel Dhyne, Amil Petrin and Frederic Warzynski. R&R, Journal of International Economics. NBER Working Paper.
Physical Productivity and Exceptional Exporter Performance: Evidence from a Chinese Production Survey (2023), with Yao Amber Li and Frederic Warzynski. R&R, Journal of Development Economics.
Theory for Extending Single-Product Production Function Estimation to Multi-Product Settings (2022), with Emmanuel Dhyne, Amil Petrin and Frederic Warzynski. NBER working paper.
Grants Awarded
2019-2022: Grant of 2.5 million kroner from the Forskningsrådet for Samfund of Erhverv on “Developing New Methodologies for Markup Estimation with Multi-product Firms”, (main researcher: Frederic Warzynski)
2018-2022: European Commission Horizon 2020 grant on “Raising EU Productivity: Lessons from Improved Micro Data”, in partnership with Frederic Warzynski (principal investigator) and Halle Institute for Economic Research, Bocconi University, Bruegel, the Research Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Paris School of Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the German Federal Statistical Office and University College London.
2013-2015: Grant of 2.5 million kroner from the Forskningsrådet for Samfund of Erhverv on “Understanding the Dynamics of Export Price Dynamics”, (main researcher: Frederic Warzynski)
2008-2011: Grant of 2.2 million kroner (main researcher) from the Forskningsrådet for Samfund of Erhverv on “The Dynamics of Productivity in Danish and European Manufacturing: Comparing Results across Methods, Countries and Datasets”
2007: Movilidad Jóvenes Doctores, El Vicerrectorado de Investigación e Innovación de la Universidad Carlos III (3-month mobility grant to visit the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago, Fall 2007)
2003-2005: Individual Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (MEIF-2003-501280)
Academic stays
New York University, Summer 2023, May 2023, March 2022, July-August 2022; Yale University, January-March 2020; Penn State University, October 2018, Yonsei University, July-August 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018; CEPII, Paris, March 2014-May 2014; The University of Tokyo, March 2013; Australian National University, August 2012; Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, U.S.A, March 2011 – May 2011; October 2007 – December 2007; September 2006; Harvard Business School, U.S.A., November 2004; Université de Toulouse I, France, 2002-2003
Other professional activities
Section Council Member, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University, 2020-
Recruiting officer, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University, 2018-
Co-organizer of the Danish International Economics Trade workshop (DIEW), Aarhus, 2017-
Teaching Experience
Graduate: Organizational Economics and Strategy, Economics of Strategy, Applied Economic Consulting, The Economics of Human Resources Management
Undergraduate: Business Economics, Firms in the Global Market Place, International Labor Markets, Economics of Organizations, Operations Management, International Management, Human Resources Management
MBA: Firms in the Global Economy, Operations Management
PhD supervision
Kaleb Girma, 2012-2015 (placement: World Bank, current: Texas A&M), Martin Alvaro, 2014-2017 (placement: University of Alberta), Giuseppe Pulito, 2019-2022 (placement: Humboldt University/UCL)