Hâle Utar

Hâle Utar is an Associate Professor and Sidney Meyer Endowed Chair in International Economics, a research fellow at IZA, a member of CESifo, and an Associate Editor at the Review of International Economics. She completed her undergraduate degree at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul and obtained her PhD in economics from the Pennsylvania State University, USA. Before coming to Grinnell, she held professorships at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Bielefeld University, Germany. Her course offerings at Grinnell include international economics and a seminar course in international trade. Her fields of specialization are International Trade and Applied Micro.

Her research focuses on the microeconomic impacts of globalization and how macroeconomic environment, developments in international trade and technology affect the organization of firms, industries, and labor markets. Recent decades' increased globalization and international trade has led to significant and visible shifts in the competitive environment faced by businesses, and consequently in how the production of goods is organized across countries and markets. The implications from these shifts on local economies and individual lives have been a highly visible topic of debate, both in the broader public and in academia.

In a series of recent papers, Professor Utar provides a detailed exploration of how globalization provokes adaptation in advanced country manufacturing firms, oftentimes costly transition for workers to other sectors and occupations, and indeed transformations in society in the form of polarization and changes in family patterns. Currently, her research agenda centers on adjustment of global value chains in the new era of rising protectionism and automation.

Professor Utar’s work has appeared in top economic journals, including the Review of Economic Studies, the Review of Economics and Statistics, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, International Economic Review, Journal of International Economics, and Journal of Development Economics.