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Research Spotlight: Professor Kalina Manova
9 May 2024
Meet Professor Kalina Manova, an award-winning economist specialising in international trade and investment, having served as Deputy Head of 香港六合彩 Economics from 2020-2023. She has recently secured an European Research Council Advanced Grant to research Firm Network Technologies.
What is your role and what does it involve?
I am a professor in the Economics Department, where I study international trade and investment, chair senior recruitment, and recently completed a term as Deputy Department Head. I teach in the department鈥檚 flagship MSc program, supervise PhD students, and work with research teams across the globe. I also serve on journal editorial boards and economic association committees, and advise and collaborate with economists at central banks and international organizations.
What do you find most interesting or enjoyable about your work?
I love the opportunity to work on questions I find interesting and important, to interact with fascinating and driven people from different backgrounds, and to discover countries and cultures through work travel. The pressures and challenges of academic life come with great freedom and joy too.
Tell us about your research (could be a specific award or project)
My research explores three themes in international economics: (i) global value chains and firm production networks; (ii) firm productivity, innovation, and management practices; and (iii) financial frictions in international trade and investment.
I recently completed a series of projects on global firms鈥� management practices, value-chain position and market competition funded by an ERC Consolidator Grant, and am currently wrapping up work on the impact of Brexit on UK firms funded by the ESRC.
I am now embarking on an exciting new research agenda on firm network technology and technology in firm networks that was just awarded an ERC Advanced Grant. Global production networks have transformed international trade and investment in recent decades. This raises pressing questions about the effects on firm performance and innovation, aggregate welfare and growth, and optimal national and multilateral policy. Yet state-of-the-art research remains agnostic about the costs of firm network formation and the impact on firm innovation. The first part of my project will unpack the black box of search, match and transaction costs in firm networks, by examining how specialized wholesale, transportation and financial intermediaries facilitate buyer-supplier needs. The second part of my project will study how production fragmentation shapes technology choices within firms and spillovers across firms in the context of labor reorganization, patent activity, and environmental standards.
What led you to pursue a research career in this field?
I have always been fascinated by policy-driven questions, and economics offers an incredibly diverse and rigorous toolkit for analyzing difficult problems and informing the underlying mechanisms. I also enjoy bridging insights across fields within economics, and put a great value on disciplining theory with data and vice versa. So I was drawn to the field of international trade and investment because it allows me to study a wide range of questions and ideas and because it values a healthy and constructive blend of theoretical and empirical work. I also find the trade community particularly diverse and interesting, and we do love exploring the world.
What working achievement or initiative are you most proud of?
Turning research teams into friendships, organizing conferences that are both enlightening and fun, and seeing students and other junior scholars I mentor thrive in their careers.
What's next on the research horizon for you?
I am excited to pursue both the next wave of research projects and new opportunities to shape the policy debate. It is a big responsibility to speak at high-level conferences of central banks and international organizations, so my hope is to extract valuable insights from my research to help chip away at the big questions.
Can you share some interesting work that you read about recently?
I love The Economist and Intelligence Squared podcasts. I am by nature curious, and embrace variety as both the spice of life and the lifeblood of economic research. So I couldn鈥檛 and I wouldn鈥檛 single out any one piece I鈥檝e come across, but rather the idea that we need both analysis (deep thinking) and synthesis (holistic thinking) to move forward as people and as economists.
鈥嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧�媁hat would it surprise people to know about you?
I love dance, arts, and all sorts of little projects with my toddler.