Trade and IO

The Trade and IO Program studies how global value chains, trade policy, geopolitical fragmentation, and digital transformation affect firms, markets, and economies. Through data-driven analysis and policy simulation, the program provides timely insights for researchers, government policy, businesses, and international organizations navigating a changing global trade environment.

Highlights

Global value chains, supply-chain resilience, and multinational production

Tariffs, regional trade agreements, non-tariff measures, and climate-related trade policies

Firm competitiveness, productivity, innovation, and labor-market impacts

Digital trade, services offshoring, green trade, carbon accounting, and government policy

Research Members

Yao Amber LI (Program leader, Associate Professor, ECON)

Kohei KAWAGUCHI (SUNDA) (Associate Professor, ECON)

Zhang CHEN (Assistant Professor, ECON)

Robin Kaiji GONG (Assistant Professor, ECON)

Wolfgang KELLER (Visiting Professor, ECON)

Research Highlights

Research Outputs

Bilateral Economies of Scope

Yao Amber Li, Sichuang Xu, Stephen R. Yeaple, and Tengyu Zhao

Miners’ Reward Elasticity and Stability of Competing Proof-of-Work Cryptocurrencies

Kohei Kawaguchi, Junpei Komiyama, and Shunya Noda

Economic Growth and the Rise of Large Firms

Zhang Chen

Equity financing and exports: Evidence from IPO approvals in China

Robin Kaiji Gong, Yao Amber Li, Stephen Teng Sun, and Shang-Jin Wei

Multinational Expansion in Times of Intangibles

Wolfgang Keller

Grants & Recognition

Yao Amber LI

Coupling Products and Markets in Global Sourcing and Supply Chain Restructuring, 2026-2028
General Research Fund (GRF), Hong Kong Research Grants Council

The Connection between Import and Export Markets: A Quantitative Analysis of Trade Relationships of Chinese Firms, 2023-2026
General Research Fund (GRF), Hong Kong Research Grants Council

Import Sourcing, Supply Chain Network, and Firm Competitiveness: Evidence from Chinese Firms, 2023-2025
IEMS (HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies) Research Award

Kohei KAWAGUCHI

AI-Powered Debt Collection: Training Agents for Strategic Intervention, 2026-2028
1+1+1 Joint Funding Program, Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province

Too Much Unsold Stock?: Environmental Consequences of Price Commitment, 2025-2028
General Research Fund (GRF), Hong Kong Research Grants Council

Inverse Reinforcement Learning for Football Tactics, 2024-2025
Academist Crowdfunding, Principal Investigator

Estimating Collusive Equilibrium: A First-Order Approach, 2022-2025
General Research Fund (GRF), Hong Kong Research Grants Council

Competitive Effects of Resale Price maintenance, 2021-2023
Center for Economic Policy's Departmental Development Fund, Principal Investigator

Robin Kaiji GONG

Female Entrepreneurship under the Global Economy: Evidence from Vietnam, 2026-2029
General Research Fund (GRF), Hong Kong Research Grants Council