Gerald Willmann

Welcome to my homepage. I'm a professor in the Department of Economics at Bielefeld University.
If you would like to find out more about me please take a look at my CV.
The fields of economics I'm most interested in are International Trade and Factor Mobility, Political Economy, and Public Policy.
If you would like to get in touch, here is my contact info:

Department of Economics, Bielefeld University
Universitätsstr. 25, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
phone: +49 521 106-6350, fax: 106-67120
email: gwillmann@wiwi.uni-bielefeld.de

Publications (in refereed journals)

"Unequal Gains, Prolonged Pain: A Model of Protectionist Overshooting and Escalation", dynamic political economy of trade protection, joint work with Emily Blanchard, Journal of International Economics, Volume 135, March 2022.
"The Political Economy of Preferential Trade Agreements: An Empirical Investigation", how trade imbalances, income inequality, and differences in sectoral structure affect PTA formation and choice of type, joint work with Giovanni Facchini and Peri Da Silva, The Economic Journal, Volume 131, Issue 640, November 2021, pages 3207-3040.
"Contingent Trade Policy and Economic Efficiency", an efficiency explanation of dumping and antidumping using an asymmetric valuation auction framework, joint work with Phil McCalman and Frank Staehler, Review of World Economics, Vol. 155:2, pp. 227-255, 2019.
"Private labels and exports: trading variety for volume", exploring private labels as a channel of trade, joint work with Emily Blanchard and Tatyana Chesnokova, Review of World Economics, Vol. 153:3, pp. 545-572, 2017.
"Trade, Education, and the Shrinking Middle Class", a continuum of sectors trade model in which education drives trade, joint work with Emily Blanchard, Journal of International Economics, Vol. 99, March 2016, pp. 263-78.
"The Customs Union issue: Why do we observe so few of them?", comparing FTAs and CUs in a political economy setup, joint work with Giovanni Facchini and Peri Da Silva, Journal of International Economics, Vol. 90:1, pp. 136-147, 2013.
"Size versus Scope: on the trade-off facing economic unions", a political economy model of the intensive and extensive margin of economic integration, joint work with Oliver Lorz, International Tax and Public Finance, Vol. 20:2, pp. 247-67, 2013.
"Escaping a Protectionist Rut? Policy Mechanisms for Trade Reform in a Democracy", a dynamic OLG model of endogenous trade protection with multiple equilibria, joint work with Emily Blanchard, Journal of International Economics, Vol. 85:1, pp. 72-85, 2011.
"Substitutability and Protectionism: Latin America's Trade Policy and Imports from China and India", joint work with Giovanni Facchini, Marcelo Olarreaga, and Peri Da Silva, World Bank Economic Review, Vol 24:3, pp. 446-73, 2010.
"Optimal Agenda-Setter Timing", how an agenda-setter optimally schedules a vote, joint work with Mattias Polborn, Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 42:4, pp. 1527-46, November 2009.
"Protection for Sale with Imperfect Rent Capturing", on partial rent capturing in the protection for sale model, joint work with Giovanni Facchini and Johannes van Biesebroeck, NBER working paper 11269, Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 39, pp. 845-873, August 2006.
"Asylum Seekers in Europe: The Warm Glow of a Hot Potato", to centralize or not to centralize asylum policy when policy is determined endogenously, joint work with Giovanni Facchini and Oliver Lorz, Journal of Population Economics, Vol. 19:2, pp. 411-430, 2006.
"The Political Economy of International Factor Mobility", a menu auction based approach to explaining migration and FDI policies, joint work with Giovanni Facchini, Journal of International Economics, Vol. 67, pp. 201-219, September 2005.
"On the Endogenous Allocation of Decision Powers in Federal Structures", a positive theory of the degree of centralization, joint work with Oliver Lorz, Journal of Urban Economics, Vol. 57, pp. 242-257, 2005.
"Why (no) Global Competition Policy is a Tough Choice", a comparison of different international competition policy regimes, joint work with Abigail Tay, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Vol. 45, pp. 312-24, May 2005.

"Welfare Leakage and Immigration Policy", a policy paper on lobbying and welfare leakage as determinants of the welfare state, joint work with Giovanni Facchini and Assaf Razin, CESifo Economic Studies, Vol. 50, pp. 627-645, 4/2004.
"Pareto Gains from Trade: A Dynamic Counter-example", a counter-example demonstrating the possible absence of Pareto gains from trade in a dynamic context. Economics Letters, Vol. 83, pp. 199-204, May 2004.
"Pareto Gains from Trade", a survey, joint work with Giovanni Facchini, Economia Politica, Vol. 18:2, pp. 57-65, 2001.
"The Gains from Duty Free Zones", joint with Giovanni Facchini, Journal of International Economics, Vol. 49, pp. 403-412, December 1999.

Working Papers

"Comparative Advantage in (Non-) Routine Production", how the share of routine vs. non-routine tasks gives rise to comparative advantage, joint work with Johannes van Biesebroeck and Liza Archanskaia, submitted.
"The Farsighted Stability of Global Trade Policy Arrangements", on the political stability of different global trade policy regimes, joint work with Lasha Chochua and Stefan Berens.

Work in Progress

"Protection in the Face of Uncertainty", explaining protection in the agricultural sector, joint work with Peter Debaere and Toni Glaser.
"Welfare comparison of customs union and FTA", decomposing the welfare difference and elucidating the importance of the CET restriction, joint work with Lasha Chochua.
"How unemployment shapes immigration policies", modelling the affect of unemployment on immigration policy and testing it empirically, joint work with Giovanni Facchini, Léa Marchal, and Max Steinhardt.
"Protection for Sale with Heterogeneous Interests within Industries", lobbying for and against trade liberalization in a Melitz style model, joint work with Pao-Li Chang.

Other Papers

"Why Legislators are Protectionists: The Role of Majoritarian Voting in Setting Tariffs", A new political economy model of trade based on the geographical concentration of industries and first past the post voting. Kiel Working Paper 2003-10.
"The Economics of a Multilateral Investment Agreement", The role of a MAI as a coordination device based on third party punishment, joint work with Jiahua Che.
"Redistribution in the Wake of Trade Liberalization - Help or Hindrance?", Pareto gains from trade can be elusive in a dynamic context due to strategic underinvestment. Mimeo Kiel.
"The History of Lotteries", on the history of this puzzling economic phenomenon. Published in part and quite unofficially in the Gamble Tribune.
"A Cointegration Analysis of German Exports - are there Signs of Hysteresis?", Institute for Statistics and Econometrics Working Paper, Kiel, 1995.

Teaching

Graduate International Trade: Leuven 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, Bielefeld 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
Economics of European Integration: Kiel 2004, 2005, 2006, Leuven 2007, 2008, Louvain 2009, Bielefeld 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015
International Economics: Stanford 2002, 2003, Illinois 2003, Bielefeld 2011, 2013
Graduate Micro at KU Leuven, Fall (1st 1/2) 2009, Spring (1st 1/2) 2010, Fall (1st 1/2) 2010, Spring (1st 1/2) 2011.
Econ 51: Intermediate Micro at Stanford, Summer of 1999.
Mikro 1: Intermediate Micro at Kiel, Winter 2000/01, 2001/02, 2002/03.
Econ 300: Intermediate Micro at the University of Illinois, Spring 2003/04.
Micro with Mathematica: Micro using Mathematica, CAU Kiel, Spring 2005.
Econ 377: Mathematical Economics at the University of Otago, Semester1, 2007.
International Trade and Factor Mobility, Kiel, Summer / KISS 2001, 2002.
Econ 429: Graduate International Finance at the University of Illinois, Spring 2003/04.
Student workshop on International Trade, Kiel, Summer 2002 and Winter 2004/5.
Student workshop on International Factor Mobility, Kiel, Winter 2002/03.

Econ Links

the European Trade Study Group
Ted Bergstrom's critical view of journal pricing
Alan Deardorff's Glossary of International Economics
and his Family Tree of Trade Economists
my SSRN author page
more links to come

Computing Links

the one and only OS for your PC: Debian Linux
Rediscover the Web: Firefox
more to come

Other Links

the Willmann family homepage
more to come