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Raymond Robertson

Texas A&M University, USA, and IZA, Germany

The gap between policymakers and academics is growing, and the quality of public policy decisions is suffering as a result. The IZA World of Labor series is one of the best initiatives designed to bridge this gap, and perhaps it has never been more needed

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Helen and Roy Ryu Professor of Economics and Government, Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University, USA

Research interest

Labor economics, international economics

Website

http://bush.tamu.edu/faculty/rrobertson/

Positions/functions as a policy advisor

Chair of the US Department of Labor National Advisory Committee for Labor Provisions of US Free Trade Agreements and a member of the Advisory Board at the Center of Global Development; Advisor to governments of Cambodia and Nicaragua, consultant with the World Bank, ILO, and IADB

Past positions

Professor of Economics, Macalester College, USA (2009–2015); Director of Latin American Studies Program, Macalester College, USA (2006–2010); Assistant Professor of Economics, Syracuse University Maxwell School (1997–1999)

Qualifications

PhD Economics, University of Texas at Austin, 1997

Selected publications

  • "Trade, FDI, migration, and the place premium: Mexico and the United States." Review of World Economics 153:1 (2017): 1–37 (with D. Gandolfi and T. Halliday).

  • Stitches to Riches? Apparel, Employment, Trade, and Economic Development in South Asia. Washington, DC: World Bank Directions in Development, 2016 (with G. Lopez-Acevedo).

  • Sewing Success? Employment, Wages, and Poverty Following the End of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement. Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2012 (with G. Lopez-Acevedo).

  • “Relative prices and wage inequality: Evidence from Mexico.” Journal of International Economics 64:2 (2004): 387–409.

  • “Wage shocks and North American labor market integration.” American Economic Review 90:4 (2000): 742–764.

article(s)

  • Effects of regulating international trade on firms and workers

    The benefits of trade regulation increase when workers are mobile

    Raymond Robertson, June 2018
    Economists have shown that international trade increases economic growth, with trade liberalization and integration having characterized the last 50 years. While trade can increase national welfare, recent estimates from both developed and developing countries show that labor market adjustment costs matter. Regulating trade, defined as adding or removing tariffs and other trade barriers, is not the best way to help lower-income workers who suffer from trade-induced losses. Policies that reduce adjustment costs may increase aggregate welfare more than regulating trade flows does.
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