Mostafa Beshkar
beshkar.bsky.social
Mostafa Beshkar
@beshkar.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Economics at Indiana University
International Trade
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
How Tariffs Affect Trade Deficits...

... a new paper with amazing trade economist Arnaud Costinot.

Many politicians and the general public expect tariffs to reduce imports lower imports and thus work to close a trade deficit.

Economists typically say "not so fast"...

🧵1/n
April 14, 2025 at 5:25 PM
A fascinating podcast on how economic statecraft—through tariff cuts and foreign aid—helped replace cocaine cultivation with asparagus and blueberries.
www.npr.org/player/embed...
How the War on Drugs got us... blueberries : Planet Money
Ever wondered why you can buy fresh Peruvian blueberries in the dead of winter? The answer, surprisingly, is tied to cocaine. Today on the show, we look at how the war on drugs led to an American trad...
www.npr.org
April 5, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
Reminder as we head into the weekend that if you appreciate all the hours I sink into watching political events and bringing you the newsiest clips, please support what I do by signing up for my newsletter. It's vital to support independent media right now and paid subscribers make my work possible.
Subscribe to Public Notice
Sign up for independent, incisive coverage of US politics and media, right in your inbox five times a week. Click to read Public Notice, by Aaron Rupar, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousan...
www.publicnotice.co
March 14, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
In grim contrast to the red carpet, Soheila Golestani faces 74 lashes for her Oscar-nominated film, The Seed of the Sacred Fig. Watch this film to understand the repression of Iran’s theocratic regime &why the #WomenLifeFreedom movement is so important: www.thetimes.com/culture/film...
The actress facing 74 lashes in Iran for her Oscar-nominated film
Instead of attending the glitzy Hollywood ceremony, Soheila Golestani is on trial by the Revolutionary Court for her part in The Seed of the Sacred Fig
www.thetimes.com
March 5, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
If you are still around San Francisco for the #ASSA2025 meeting, please come check out this session on oligopoly and international trade.
January 5, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
Trade nerds! Famous 1976 handwritten paper where Victor Norman anticipates the new trade theory, esp. Helpman-Krugman Heckscher-Ohlin-Krugman fusion. He gave it to me in October 1997 in Bergen.
See full story (amazing) in my Factful Friday from 4 October 2024 lnkd.in/e5Buz3WU
Did Victor Norman do the New Trade Theory first?
Richard Baldwin, @IMD, 4 October 2024, Factful Friday. Introduction.
lnkd.in
December 27, 2024 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
Our survey on #sanctions was accepted at the Annual Review of Economics. Thanks to my amazing co-authors @GFelbermayr, Cliff Morgan, and Costas Syropoulos for this interdisciplinary collaboration. I learned a lot. I wish a healthy and happy 2025 to all!🍾

ideas.repec.org/p/drx/wpaper...
December 28, 2024 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
Dear friends and followers, for those of you who are interested, here is the recording of the Nobel banquet speech: shapingwork.mit.edu/news/daron-a...
Daron Acemoglu delivers remarks at 2024 Nobel Banquet - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
On December 10, 2024, Daron Acemoglu delivered an acceptance speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, on behalf of himself, Simon Johnson, and James A.…
shapingwork.mit.edu
December 17, 2024 at 9:42 PM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
Trade economists: After you publish your first trade paper, add yourself to Alan Deadorff's Family Tree of Trade Economists. public.websites.umich.edu/~alandear/tr...

The cohort sizes suggest the field is in decline, but I think participation has fallen. Sign up!
December 17, 2024 at 10:11 PM
Just wrapped up a fantastic debate in my int'l trade class! Two IU debate team members discussed Trump's proposed tariffs, starting with opening speeches for & against, then leading class discussions to refine arguments using course material. A highly-recommended class activity!
December 12, 2024 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
Smoot and Hawley back in the news . . .
abcnews.go.com/Business/smo...
What to know about the Smoot-Hawley tariffs and what their legacy means for Trump
The measure helped worsen the Great Depression, experts said.
abcnews.go.com
December 4, 2024 at 6:16 PM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
Killer paper! One of the best analysis of the effects of a trade agreement on individual workers.
Recently accepted to #REStud, ``The Long-Run Labor Market Effects of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement,'' from Kovak and Morrow:

www.restud.com/the-long-run...
December 2, 2024 at 5:28 AM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
International Trade economists
Join the conversation
go.bsky.app
December 2, 2024 at 7:57 AM
This is very useful. Is there a starter pack for trade?
Welcome, new #EconSky joiners!

I have updated my starter pack - now with over 120 IO, org econ, innovation and firm dynamics researchers. If you think I have forgotten someone, please let me know.

go.bsky.app/Rchu8QX
December 2, 2024 at 6:23 AM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
Submit a paper to RMET and join us in Banff, Canada, May 23-25. Submissions due January 17,2025. Emily Blanchard will give a keynote talk.

www.freit.org/RMET/2025/
November 21, 2024 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
The best simple explanation of the dollar's role is still Charles Kindleberger's old analogy with the role of English as the language of international business. Foreigners learn English partly because we're such a big market, but also because so many others speak English 2/
December 1, 2024 at 12:35 PM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
Revised WP with @econlessmann.bsky.social
shows it actually pays to be a "Science Kardashian" on social media! Kardashian virologists' pre-COVID papers started to get significantly more citations after COVID compared to their coauthors' papers during COVID. www.cesifo.org/en/publicati...
Do Science Kardashians Get Citation Premium? Self-Fulfilling Effects of Social Media on Citations
We analyze whether the social media popularity of scientists affects the number of academic citations. We use the COVID-19 global pandemic as a quasi-natural experiment exogenously increasing public a...
www.cesifo.org
September 18, 2024 at 6:04 AM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
Just in case you are in the mood for some light reading in international economics:

poole.ncsu.edu/thought-lead...
International Economics
poole.ncsu.edu
November 27, 2024 at 2:09 AM
Trump may be up to something after all. One easy way to bring prices down is to make everyone very poor.
Tariffs don’t *always* lead to inflation.
November 27, 2024 at 1:59 AM
A 25% tariff on Mexico plus mass deportations? Looks like we're Making Heckscher-Ohlin Great Again!
If high tariffs are implemented (a big if), we should either expect a massive increase in prices or a spike in immigration of manufacturing labor. Either way, US workers wouldn't gain much.
November 27, 2024 at 12:11 AM
Just to have posted something here... It is a great day in Singapore!
November 26, 2024 at 4:25 AM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
Good to know that it's not just the Bannon-Lighthizer spin on trade history at play in the Trump administration . . .
www.politico.com/newsletters/...
November 25, 2024 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Mostafa Beshkar
Just back from giving a talk to 2nd year students on how to approach research, how to write a paper. Abhijit was coming after me (good thing he didn't go first, tough act to follow!)

Here are my slides...
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0pm2m...
October 5, 2023 at 2:02 PM