Andersons Program in International Trade

The Andersons Program in International Trade is a broad-based program focusing on research and  outreach in the area of international trade and public policy.  Recent research from the program has focused on:  vertical market structure and the impact of trade liberalization on developing country market access; government labeling policies and credence goods; and the relationship between trade and environmental policy.  Currently, research is being conducted on trade liberalization in the presence of tariff escalation; the impact of harmonization of labeling regimes for credence goods; and also the potential the impact of R&D on market structure in the life sciences sector.  Recent outreach work from the program has covered topics such as: China's trade, the WTO ruling on genetically modified foods, international trade and ethanol; prospects for the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization; regionalism vs. multilateralism in trade liberalization; the connection between trade and the environment; and the US trade deficit.  Currently, the program is led by Professor Ian M. Sheldon

Ian M. Sheldon - Andersons Professor of International Trade

Ian Sheldon was appointed Andersons Professor of International Trade in July 2006.   Professor Sheldon was born and raised in the United Kingdom, completing his BSc in Economics in 1978, and his PhD in Economics in 1981, both at the University of Salford - which is in the twin city to Manchester in the north-west of England.  He spent a year as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology, before taking a post as Lecturer in Economics and Agricultural Economics at the University of Exeter in 1982.  Professor Sheldon came to The Ohio State University as a Visiting Professor in 1989, joining the Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics as an Associate Professor in 1990, and becoming Full Professor in 1998.  Between 2002 and 2006, Professor Sheldon was an Editor of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, the leading journal in the field, and he currently serves as Chair of the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium

Contact details:

234 Agricultural Administration Building                          Phone:  614-292-2194
2120 Fyffe Road                                                             e-mail: sheldon.1@osu.edu
Columbus , Ohio 43210                                                 

Please feel free to e-mail Professor Sheldon if you have any questions/inquiries about international trade and public policy issues.  He can also be contacted through the Ohio State Alumni Association for speaking engagements

Academic information:

Full curriculum vitae

Short curriculum vitae

Current research:

●  Research is currently being conducted on the effects of trade liberalization when there is tariff escalation.  In particular, the issue of simultaneous reductions in tariffs at different points in a vertically-related market where each sector is oligopolistic, is being examined.  This research has been partially sponsored by the Food System Research Group at the University of Wisconsin.  Early papers on this topic were presented at the 2003 Madrid meetings of the European Trade Study Group, and also the 2004 Annual Meetings of the American Agricultural Economics Association in Denver:

S. McCorriston and I. Sheldon, "Successive Oligopoly, Market Access and Tariff Escalation", European Trade Study Group, Madrid, Spain, September 2003

S. McCorriston and I. Sheldon, "Tariff Escalation and the Developing Countries: How Can Market Access Be Improved in the Doha Round of Trade Negotiations?" American Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meetings, Denver, August 2004

● Other current research concerns the relationship between exchange rate uncertainty and US bilateral trade in fresh fruit.  Using an empirical gravity model for a sample of 26 countries over the period 1976-1999, and panel econometric methods, the results of this research indicate that bilateral trade in fresh fruits is negatively affected by medium term exchange rate uncertainty.  Currently, this research is being extended to US trade in fresh vegetables

●  A new project is being developed where "bounds" analysis from industrial organization theory is used to analyze how market structure in the life-sciences sector is determined endogenously by the R&D expenditure process

Conferences, symposia and seminars:

●  Past conferences:

With the International Trade Research Consortium (IATRC), and Munisamy Gopinath at Oregon State University, Professor Sheldon helped in organizing the theme day "From Farm to Port: The Export Decision in Agricultural and Food Industries" at the IATRC's 2006 Winter Meetings in St. Petersburg, December 3-5 2007.  Details of the program can be found in the IATRC Trade Issues Paper summarizing the literature covered in the theme day presentations by Gopinath, Sheldon and Echeverria

●  Recent symposia:

The International Trade Research Consortium's (IATRC), summer symposium  "Globalization and the Rural-Urban Divide" was held in Seoul, Korea, June 30-July 1, 2008.  To see the program, follow this link, and for a summary of the symposium follow this link

Along with the International Trade Research Consortium, and Colin Carter at the University of California, Davis, Professor Sheldon and the Andersons Program in International Trade was involved in organizing a symposium in Beijing in July of 2007.  The focus of the symposium was on "China's Agricultural Trade: Issues and Prospects", and it was held in Beijing, July 8-9, 2007, speakers included Nick Lardy (Institute for International Economics) and Scott Rozelle (Stanford University).  Other sponsors of the symposium included the Farm Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Giannini Foundation, and the University of Peking.  Click here for the final program and a summary of the symposium

●  Recent conference:

The International Trade Research Consortium's (IATRC), theme day "Labor Markets in a Globalized Economy" was held at the IATRC's 2007/8 Winter Meetings in Washington D.C., January 7-9, 2008.  To see the program, follow this link

●  AEDE seminars:

Professor Sheldon currently chairs the AED Economics seminar program.  For Spring 2008, we had the following speakers: Karla Hoff (The World Bank), Mario Miranda (Ohio State University), Alan Randall (Ohio State University), Richard Just (University of Maryland), and Laura Schecter (University of Wisconsin).  Further details of these seminars can be found at:

 http://aede.osu.edu/resources/seminars.htm

Teaching:

Professor Sheldon currently teaches three classes in the Department:

AED 503: Economics Analysis of Public Policy (undergraduate)

AED 734: International Agricultural Trade Policy (Masters/PhD) - for a link to the text for this course, go to James Markusen's web-page

AED 809: Applied Welfare Economics and Public Policy Analysis (PhD)

Professor Sheldon has won several awards for teaching, including the Ohio State University, Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching which he received in 2001

During the appropriate quarter, click this link for more course materials

Latest papers:

I.M. Sheldon and M. Roberts, "U.S. Comparative Advantage in Bioenergy: A Heckscher-Ohlin-Ricardian Approach", Principal Paper, AAEA Annual Meetings, Orlando, Florida, July 27-29, 2008

I.M. Sheldon and B. Roe, "Vertical Differentiation and Credence Goods: Harmonized Labeling and Gains from International Integration", Selected Paper, AAEA Annual Meetings, Orlando, Florida, July 27-29, 2008

I.M. Sheldon, "The Biotechnology Sector: 'Bounds' to Market Structure", Selected Paper, AAEA Annual Meetings, Orlando, Florida, July 27-29, 2008

W. McGuire, B. Fleisher and I. Sheldon, "Off-Farm Employment Opportunities and Educational Attainment in Rural China", Contributed Paper, IATRC Summer Symposium, "China's Agricultural Trade: Issues and Prospects", Beijing, China, July 8-9, 2007

Forthcoming publications:

I.M. Sheldon, review of "Primary industries facing global markets: The supply chains and markets for Norwegian food" by F. Asche (ed.), forthcoming Agricultural Economics, July 2008

I.M. Sheldon, "Comments on: 'Is the Chinese growth miracle built to last?' and 'Will the renminbi become a world currency?'", forthcoming China Economic Review.

I.M. Sheldon and M. Roberts, "US Comparative Advantage in Bioenergy: A Heckscher-Ohlin-Ricardian Approach," forthcoming American Journal of Agricultural Economics, December 2008.

I.M. Sheldon and C.A. Carter (Eds.), China's Agricultural Trade: Issues and Prospects, Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, forthcoming 2008

C.A. Carter and I.M. Sheldon (Eds.), Genetically Modified Food and Global Welfare, Elsevier, forthcoming 2010

Recent publications:

Click link for either a paper or abstract of published articles

I.M. Sheldon, "Food Principles: Likely Impacts of the 2006 WTO Ruling on the Regulatory Environment for GM Crops?"  Brown Journal of World Affairs, 14 (1) 2007

B. Roe and I. M. Sheldon, "Credence Labeling: Efficiency and Distributional Implications of Several Policy Approaches," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, November 2007

S. McCorriston and I.M. Sheldon, “Trade Liberalization and Rent Distribution in Vertically-Related Markets”, in Global Supply Chains, Standards, and the Poor:  How the Globalization of Food Systems and Standards Affects Rural Development and Poverty.  Ed.  J. Swinnen, CABI, 2007

M. Gopinath, I. Sheldon and R. Echeverria, "Firm Heterogeneity and International Trade:  Implications for Food and Agricultural Industries", Trade Issues Paper # 5, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium, March 2007

R. Sexton, I. M. Sheldon, S.  McCorriston and H. Wang, "Agricultural Trade Liberalization and Economic Development: The Role of Downstream Market Power," Agricultural Economics, 36(2), 2007 (pdf of conference version)

Outreach publications:

I. Sheldon, "Trade and the environment: will there be a race to the bottom?", the Ohio Environment Report  4(1), 2007

See the third in the series of Andersons Policy Bulletins - the current issue is on the US ethanol sector and infant-industry protection

See these links for other outreach-related publications:

http://ohioagmanager.osu.edu/

and

http://extension.osu.edu/natural_resources_and_environment/index.php

Media presentations/media cites:

I. Sheldon, cited in "NAFTA bashing popular, but is it justified?", David Portman, Seattle Times, March 2, 2008

I. Sheldon, "Discussion on Trade", Town Hall Ohio, 610 WTVN, Columbus, August 20, 2006 http://townhallohio.org/listen2.php

Recent presentations:

●  2008

"The Food vs. Fuel Controversy", presentation to Ohio Congressional Aides, Wooster, Ohio, August 5, 2008.

"U.S. Comparative Advantage in Bioenergy: A Heckscher-Ohlin-Ricardian Approach", Principal Paper, AAEA Annual Meetings, Orlando, Florida, July 27-29, 2008

"Vertical Differentiation and Credence Goods: Harmonized Labeling and Gains from International Integration", Selected Paper, AAEA Annual Meetings, Orlando, Florida, July 27-29, 2008

"The Biotechnology Sector: 'Bounds' to Market Structure", Selected Paper, AAEA Annual Meetings, Orlando, Florida, July 27-29, 2008

"Sustainability of China's Growth and Macroeconomic Policy."  Presentation to AEDE 439/IS 439, "China's Economic Reforms and Globalization", OSU, Columbus, Ohio, May 14, 2008

"U.S.-China Trade." Discussion facilitator, Foreign Policy Association - 2008 Great Decisions Program, Columbus, Ohio, April 3, 2008

"The Andersons Program in International Trade:  Current Research and Outreach." Presentation as part of The Andersons Lectures on Agriculture, Science, Society, and the Environment, The Andersons, Maumee, Ohio, March 15, 2008

"China and the US Trade Deficit:  Who Gains form a Rise in the Yuan?" Presentation to 2008 AEDE Extension Educator Update, Columbus, Ohio, March 12, 2008

"China and the US Trade Deficit: Who Gains from a Rise in the Yuan?" Presentation to Policy Outlook Meeting in Ridgeville Corners, Ohio, January 30, 2007

●  2007

"Vertical Product Differentiation and Credence Goods:  Labeling and the Gains from Trade", invited seminar at University of Guadalajara, Mexico, December 13, 2007

"China and the US Trade Deficit: Who Gains from a Rise in the Yuan?" Presentations to Policy Outlook Meetings in Ashland, Attica, Lima and Versailles, Ohio, December 4-6, 2007

"China and the US Trade Deficit: Who Gains from a Rise in the Yuan?"  Presentation to the Dean's Policy Outlook Meeting, Columbus, Ohio, October 29, 2007

"Vertical Product Differentiation and Credence Goods:  Labeling and the Gains from Trade", invited seminar at University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, September 28, 2007

"China's Trade and its Exchange Rate" as part of Question the Authorities at the Farm Science Review, London, Ohio, September 18, 2007 - for the background, see the recent Andersons Policy Bulletin, China and the U.S. Trade Deficit: Why Does Appreciation of the Renminbi Matter More for China?

"Estimating the Effects of U.S. Distortions in the Ethanol Market Using a Partial Equilibrium Trade Model", contributed paper presentation with Ariadna Martinez-Gonzalez (graduate student) and Stanley Thompson (Professor) at AAEA Annual Meetings, Portland, Oregon, June 2007 - see paper at:  http://agecon.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/pdf_view.pl?paperid=26357&ftype=.pdf

"Off-Farm Employment Opportunities and Educational Attainment in Rural China" - contributed paper presentation with William McGuire (graduate student) and Belton Fleisher (Professor of Economics) at IATRC Summer Symposium, "China's Agricultural Trade: Issues and Prospects", Beijing, China, July 8-9, 2007

"The effects of trade distortions:  the Brazilian sugarcane ethanol industry vs. the US corn-ethanol industry" - poster presentation with Ariadna Martinez-Gonzalez (graduate student) and Stanley Thompson (Professor) at OARDC Annual Research Conference on "Ohio's Future in Renewable Energy and the Bioeconomy", Columbus, Ohio, April 19, 2007

"International trade and ethanol - presentation at "The Future of Renewable Energy in Ohio: An Economic Update", Columbus, Ohio, March 1, 2007

"Failure in the global trade talks" - presentation to the Ohio State Lead Program, Walnut Creek, Ohio, January 25, 2007

●  2006

Competitiveness of American agriculture in the global economy - seminar presentation to Food Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Columbus, November 11, 2006

Multilateral vs. regional free trade - presentation to the Dean's Policy Outlook Meeting, October 30, 2006

Trade and the environment: what's the connection? - presentation to Agribusiness Leadership Plus Program, Washington DC, September 12, 2006

Credence goods and vertical product differentiation: the impact of labeling policies - seminar presentation, North Dakota State University, Fargo, May 11, 2006

Market structure, industrial concentration and price transmission - presentation to seminar, "Market Integration and Vertical and Spatial Price Transmission", University of Kentucky, Lexington, April 21, 2006 (pdf copy of seminar paper)