Gerald Willmann

Welcome to my homepage. I'm an associate professor in the Department of Economics at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
If you would like to find out more about me please take a look at my CV. You could also read my dissertation if you really do have time.
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:

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Department of Economics
Naamsestraat 69, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
phone: +32 16 32.67.90, fax: 32.67.32
email: gerald.willmann@econ.kuleuven.be

Publications (in refereed journals)

"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 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

"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.
"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, revision invited by the Journal of International Economics.
"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.
"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.
"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. revise/resubmit, Journal of International Economics
"Enlargement versus Deepening: The Trade-off Facing Economic Unions", a political economy model of the intensive and extensive margin of economic integration, joint work with Oliver Lorz, submitted.
"Trade, Education, and the Shrinking Middle Class", a continuum of sectors trade model in which education drives trade, joint work with Emily Blanchard.

Other Papers

"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.

Work in Progress

"On Modes of Gaining Access to Large Markets", a model of distribution channels available to exporting firms in small countries, joint work with Emily Blanchard and Tatyana Chesnokova.
"Protection based on the National Security Argument", explaining protection in the agricultural sector, joint work with Peter Debaere.
"Enlargement versus Deepening of the European Union", a sequential model of the enlargement of an economic union, joint work with Oliver Lorz.
"How Wide is the Border? The Amplification Effect", endogenizing the width of the border in a geography model with agglomeration effects.
"The Political Determinants of IP Protection", applying standard political economy models to IP protection and testing them empirically.

Teaching

D0M42: Graduate International Trade at KU Leuven, Fall 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010.
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 165: International Economics at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2001/02, 2002/03.
Econ 328: International Economics at the University of Illinois, Fall 2003/04.
Econ 429: Graduate International Finance at the University of Illinois, Spring 2003/04.
Economics of European Integration, Kiel, Summer / Kiss 2004, 2005, and 2006.
D0M21: Economics of European Integration at KU Leuven, Fall 2007, Fall 2008.
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