Subject Area
Economics
Abstract
This dissertation examines the impact of international trade and trade policy on key economic outcomes, including income and productivity. The first chapter investigates the role of trade-induced technology diffusion in shaping global income inequality. When bilateral trade facilitates technology transfer, such diffusion can account for up to 85% of the income gap across countries. The second chapter focuses on the determinants of international trade in services. It highlights a significant link between service and manufacturing trade, conditional on the presence of foreign direct investment (FDI) relationships between trading partners. The third chapter evaluates the 2020 U.S. presidential election, aiming to identify the factors that contributed to Donald Trump’s electoral defeat. The analysis finds that the expansion of health insurance coverage played the most significant role in explaining his loss.
Degree Date
Summer 8-5-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Economics
Advisor
Michael Sposi
Second Advisor
Klaus Desmet
Third Advisor
Omer Ozak
Fourth Advisor
James Lake
Acknowledgements
Jun Nie
Number of Pages
156
Format
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Nie, Jun, "Three Essays in International Trade and Macroeconomics" (2025). Economics Theses and Dissertations. 26.
https://scholar.smu.edu/hum_sci_economics_etds/26
