Cowles Lunch Talk: Myrto Kalouptsidi, Harvard University

In her talk, Professor Kalouptsidi will combine research from several recent projects to explore questions related to transportation, infrastructure, and international trade. Her talk will explore the role of the transportation sector in world trade broadly, and will look at the efficiency and optimal policy surrounding specific transport methods such as taxis, trucks, water vessels, and other means of bulk shipping. She will also present work in progress on the nature of port technology. The talk will draw on findings from the following research:

• "Geography, Transportation and Endogenous Trade Costs," 2020, with Giulia Brancaccio and Theodore Papageorgiou.
• "Search Frictions and Efficiency in Decentralized Transport Markets," 2022, with Giulia Brancaccio, Theodore Papageorgiou, and Nicola Rosaia.
• "Understanding Port Performance and the Role of Infrastructure," in progress, with Giulia Brancaccio and Theodore Papageorgiou. 

Myrto Kalouptsidi is the Paul Sack Associate Professor of Political Economy at the Department of Economics at Harvard University. Professor Kalouptsidi specializes in applied microeconomics, with a particular emphasis on international trade. She is renowned for her work on protectionism in the shipping industry. Her current research focuses on the impact of protectionism, search frictions, geography, and trade costs on China’s international shipping.