Projects

Projects completed during the course of my studies at the University of Oklahoma and Barcelona School of Economics:

The above is my master's project, completed with Michele Andreoni, Marta Cacopardo, and Jakob Wenzl.  Read the abstract below:

This paper analyzes the global defense trade and investigates the factors that determine the trade of these goods and whether, during times of high geopolitical uncertainty, such as post-2021 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there has been an increase in ”friendshoring” of these goods. We find that cultural and political closeness is more important than geographical vicinity for the trade of arms, dual-use, and nuclear goods compared to overall trade. Further, gravity models and network analysis show an increase in geopolitical fragmentation in recent years and point towards an emphasis on friendshoring during times of geopolitical uncertainty.

The above is a policy brief written for a course in International Trade and Migration.  This project was completed with Benjamin Northcott and James Tudela.

The above is a project carried out for a course in Geospatial Data Science.  This project was completed with Lauren Aylin Bedirhanoglu, Pedro Chavez, and Thorben Hamer.  Note that on mobile it might not be possible to see this project, and it is best viewed on desktop,.

Below is the abstract of my bachelor's thesis, which I am currently updating and improving with my thesis advisor, Dr. Firat Demir: 

Despite recent increased public relevance, there is little economic research into the international arms trade. Further, arms trade literature today draws primarily from one source and there is a significant lack of arms trade analysis utilizing Harmonized System (HS) codes. Developed by the World Customs Organization, HS codes are used by over 200 economies as a basis for tariffs and for tracking the trade of goods. HS codes are of important use to researchers due to the extensive data reported by the countries that utilize the system. In comparison to many non-HS-based databases, HS codes provide a product-level view of trade data and allow researchers to customize which specific goods are of interest. Utilizing HS codes, a researcher can also look beyond conventional arms trade and include other “strategic goods” such as nuclear weapons precursors, chemical weapons precursors, and other dual-use goods of high importance. In this paper, I compile several existing HS-based classifications of weapons, dual-use goods, and other goods of strategic importance. I also survey the existing, non-HS-based arms trade databases such as the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Arms Transfer Database and compare them to the HS-based classifications. I also attempt to create a more specific HS-based classification of the arms trade by applying the methodology of SIPRI to the Harmonized System codes. I then apply these HS-based classifications to trade data to look at recent trends in arms and strategic goods trade in the United States and the world.