Macroeconomics Seminar Series. Industrial Policy Wars and Inequality: Who Loses and When?
Published: 17 September 2025
2 October 2025. Dr Adam Spencer, University of Bonn
Dr Adam Hal Spencer (University of Bonn)
Industrial Policy Wars and Inequality: Who Loses and When? (joint work with Ziran Ding and Zinan Wang)
Thursday, 2 October 2025, 15:00–16:30
Room 386AB, Adam Smith Business School
Abstract
How does an industrial policy war affect worker inequality? How does this effect change over time? We develop a model to study how industrial policy affects the dynamics of the joint distribution of firms and workers in the open economy. The model features two skill classes of workers, in addition to multiple sectors with varying skill intensities in production. Heterogeneous firms make decisions to offshore their production of inputs, in addition to export participation. Different industrial policy shocks generate alternative transmission channels in the model; after interacting with the dynamic decisions of firms and households, they can alter a country’s comparative advantage over time. While most industrial policies can serve to benefit the locally protected skill class of workers, these effects may take time to materialize. Similarly, the costs these policy actions impose on the non-protected worker class may diminish over time.
Biography
Adam has been an assistant professor at University of Bonn since Fall 2024. Prior to that, he was assistant professor at University of Nottingham from 2018-2024. Completed doctoral studies in economics and finance at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Adam works on firm dynamics using quantitative macro tools, with particular application to issues in trade and innovation.
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First published: 17 September 2025