Professor Paola Conconi, University of Oxford, presented the 2025 Corden Public Lecture at the University of Melbourne, on Thursday, July 24, 2025.
The Political Economy of Trade Policy
The last decades have witnessed an unprecedented surge in the number of free trade agreements in force. At the same time, there has been widespread use of protectionist measures by governments worldwide. This lecture reviewed the political economy factors (such as lobbying and electoral incentives) shaping support and opposition to trade agreements and protectionist policies.
About the speaker
Professor Paola Conconi is the Statutory Chair of Economics at the University of Oxford and a Professorial Fellow at New College, Oxford. Prior to joining Oxford, she was a professor of economics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and a member of the European Centre for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics (ECARES).
Professor Conconi holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Bologna, a Master of Arts in International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, and both a Master of Science and a PhD in Economics from the University of Warwick.
She is a Research Fellow of the CEPR International Trade and Regional Economics Program, a CESifo Research Fellow, a Research Associate at the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) at the London School of Economics, and the Director of the CEPR Research Network on Global Value Chains, Trade and Development.
Her research has been widely published in leading economics journals, including the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, and the Review of Economic Studies. She has also received an Advanced Research Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to examine the relationship between trade agreements and supply chains.
Professor Conconi’s research interests span international trade, firm organisation, and political economy, making her a highly respected and influential voice in global economic policy.
About the Corden Public Lecture Series
The Corden Public Lecture Series is named after Emeritus Professor Max Corden, one of Australia’s most famous economists. Professor Corden contributed to the field of economics through his work and his long and extensive teaching career, during which he shaped the thinking of many of today’s great economists. He is known for his work on the theory of trade protection, including the development of the Dutch disease model of international trade. He has also been active in the fields of international monetary systems, macroeconomic policies of developing countries and Australian economics.
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