China Shock Impact To Be Discussed at Henry George Lecture

The term “China shock” commonly refers to the number of U.S. manufacturing jobs lost to import competition from China. However, research by economist Robert C. Feenstra, Ph.D., that takes a broader assessment of the economic impact trade with China over the past few decades tells a different story.

Dr. Feenstra, the C. Bryan Cameron Distinguished Chair in International Economics at University of California (UC), Davis, will present “The ‘China Shock’ After 22 Years,” at The University of Scranton’s 37th Henry George Lecture on Thursday, Nov. 9. The lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center. The lecture is free of charge and open to the public.

In his research, Dr. Feenstra’s examined broad data that reflected growth in U.S. exports that has led to increased demand for manufacturing jobs, as well as jobs in services, including service sector jobs that are due to the export of services. His research indicates that the “China shock” has had a net positive impact for the U.S. economy.

Dr. Feenstra’s research focuses on international economics and applied microeconomics. He has published 15 books, including “Offshoring in the Global Economy, and Product Variety and the Gains from Trade” (MIT Press, 2010), the graduate textbook “Advanced International Trade: Theory and Evidence” (Princeton University Press, 2nd ed., 2015), and an undergraduate textbook jointly with Alan M. Taylor, “International Economics” (Worth Publishers, 4th ed., 2017).  In addition, he has published more than 100 articles that have appeared in leading economics journals, including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Economic Journal, the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Political Economy, and the American Economic Review.

Dr. Feenstra is director of the Center for International Data, an organization within the Department of Economics at UC Davis that collects, enhances, creates and disseminates international economic data. From 1992 to 2016 he directed the International Trade and Investment program at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Feenstra has won numerous awards, including the Bernhard Harms Prize from the Kiel Institute for World Economics at the University of Kiel (2006) and the Herbert A. Young Society Dean’s Fellowship at UC Davis (2010 to 2013).

Considered the preeminent public lecture series on economics in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Henry George Lecture Series is presented by the University’s Department of Economics, Finance and International Business and the campus chapter of Omicron Delta Epsilon, an international honor society for economics. Among the distinguished list of speakers who have spoken at previous lectures are eleven winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics: David Card (2021) Paul Romer (2018), Robert Shiller (2013), Tom Sargent (2011), Peter Diamond (2010), Paul Krugman (2008), Joseph Stiglitz (2001), George Akerlof (2001), Amartya Sen (1998), Robert Lucas (1995) and Robert Solow (1987). The lecture series is named in honor of the 19th century American economist and social reformer and is supported financially by a grant from the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation.

For more information about the Henry George Lecture, call 570-941-4048 or email janice.mecadon@scranton.edu.