Gisela Rua

The Diffusion Video

Gisela Rua — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:00:49 PST

Does Trade Cause Capital to Flow?

Gisela Rua — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:25:48 PDT

Microeconomics I, Microeconomics II, and Industrial Organization

Gisela Rua — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 01:07:28 PDT

Microeconomics II and Industrial Organization

Gisela Rua — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 01:01:35 PDT

Microeconomics I and Statistics I

Gisela Rua — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:59:16 PDT

International Monetary Economics (Econ 182)

Gisela Rua — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:44:47 PDT

International Trade (Econ C181)

Gisela Rua — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:43:39 PDT

Fixed Costs, Network Effects, and the International Diffusion of Containerization

Gisela Rua — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:03:23 PDT

Containerization is one of the most important innovations affecting the conduct of international trade in the second half of the twentieth century. This paper analyzes its international diffusion and the factors that shaped today's container network. I construct a new dataset with information on the timing and intensity of adoption of containerization across countries. While adoption of container-port infrastructure follows an S-shaped curve, containerized trade moves more slowly and linearly. These findings guide the construction of a theoretical framework in which a transportation sector decides whether or not to build a container port. This decision is based on expectations about domestic and foreign firms' choices between two transportation technologies: breakbulk shipping and containerization. Changes in fixed costs and network effects generate the patterns observed in the data. I then estimate a two-step model derived from the theoretical framework. The empirical results, which are consistent with the theoretical predictions, show that adoption depends on institutional barriers, a country's share of trade with the UK, and anticipated levels of containerized trade. Fixed costs, geographical remoteness, and network characteristics (income and number of ports) also determine adoption through their effect on containerized trade. Contrary to what historical accounts would suggest, labor costs and trade with the US have a neutral or negative effect on adoption. These results emphasize the importance of internal trade costs, the identity of countries' trade partners, and institutional barriers for technological diffusion, international trade, and countries' integration into the global economy.

Exchange Rates and Global Rebalancing

Gisela Rua et al. — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:41:46 PDT

This paper considers the general equilibrium relationship between exchange rates and global imbalances. It emphasizes that the exchange rate is not a primitive but an equilibrium price determined by the policy mix. It uses extensions of the two-country Obstfeld-Rogoff model to analyze the response of imbalances and real exchange rates to shocks. Finally it analyzes the characteristics of episodes in which chronic current account surpluses (as opposed to deficits) come to an end.

From Great Depression to Great Credit Crisis: Similarities, Differences and Lessons

Miguel Almunia et al. — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:29:58 PST

The Great Depression of the 1930s and the Great Credit Crisis of the 2000s had similar causes but elicited strikingly different policy responses. It may still be too early to assess the effectiveness of current policy responses, but it is possible to analyze monetary and fiscal policies in the 1930s as a “natural experiment” or “counterfactual” capable of shedding light on the impact of recent policies. We employ vector autoregressions, instrumental variables, and qualitative evidence for a panel of 27 countries in the period 1925-1939. The results suggest that monetary and fiscal stimulus was effective – that where it did not make a difference it was not tried. The results also shed light on the debate over fiscal multipliers in episodes of financial crisis. They are consistent with multipliers at the higher end of those estimated in the recent literature, consistent with the idea that the impact of fiscal stimulus will be greater when banking system are dysfunctional and monetary policy is constrained by the zero bound.