Topic · General Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Global trade and economics

Global trade and economics is a research topic within General Economics, Econometrics and Finance. Science Explorer counts 58k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the impact of international trade on productivity, firm-level dynamics, and economic growth. It covers topics such as trade liberalization, firm-level data analysis, globalization, technology, market size, innovation, and economic development.

International Trade
Productivity
Trade Liberalization
Firm-Level Data
Globalization
Exporting
Technology
Market Size
Innovation
Economic Development

Research works: 58k
In the world top 10%: 5.9k
Top-10% rate: 10.1%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25: +11%
Largest producer: China

Global trade and economics

Which countries lead Global trade and economics research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.8k and 1.3k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

1 China 1.8k works
2 United States 1.3k works
3 India 647 works
4 Indonesia 493 works
5 Türkiye 469 works
6 United Kingdom 410 works
7 Russia 286 works
8 Germany 275 works
9 Japan 248 works
10 Vietnam 208 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China1,812 · 29.3%United States1,332 · 21.5%India647 · 10.5%Indonesia493 · 8.0%6 others listed1,896 · 30.7%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Global trade and economics research?

By volume in 2022-now, Peking University publishes the most Global trade and economics research, followed by Russian Academy of Sciences and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

1 Peking UniversityChina 57 works
2 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 55 works
3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 45 works
4 University of International Business and EconomicsChina 41 works
5 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 34 works
6 Korea Institute for International Economic PolicySouth Korea 32 works
7 Chinese Academy of Social SciencesChina 32 works
8 University of IndonesiaIndonesia 31 works
9 Renmin University of ChinaChina 30 works
10 Australian National UniversityAustralia 30 works

Who are the leading researchers in Global trade and economics?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Global trade and economics include Rob Knight, Koichiro Tamura and Andrei Shleifer.

1 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
2 Koichiro Tamura Japan 268k citations
3 Andrei Shleifer United States 234k citations
4 Harry Eugene Stanley United States 198k citations
5 R. W. L. Jones United Kingdom 189k citations
6 Seeram Ramakrishna Singapore 186k citations
7 Christopher D. Manning United States 179k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Global trade and economics?

The most cited paper in Global trade and economics is "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models" (Richard W. Blundell, Stephen Bond, 1998), with 22,634 citations. Next come "How to do Xtabond2: An Introduction to Difference and System GMM in Stata" (9,842) and "International Investment and International Trade in the Product Cycle" (7,570).

Most cited papers
#	Paper	Released	Citations
1	Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models Richard W. Blundell, Stephen Bond · Journal of Econometrics	Nov 1998	22,634
2	How to do Xtabond2: An Introduction to Difference and System GMM in Stata David Malin Roodman · The Stata Journal Promoting communications on statistics and Stata	Mar 2009	9,842
3	International Investment and International Trade in the Product Cycle Raymond Vernon · The Quarterly Journal of Economics	May 1966	7,570
4	The governance of global value chains Gary Gereffi, JOHN D. HUMPHREY, Timothy Sturgeon · Review of International Political Economy	Feb 2005	6,925
5	The Log of Gravity João Santos Silva, Silvana Tenreyro · The Review of Economics and Statistics Open access	Nov 2006	6,368

All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Global trade and economics research done?

The largest centres of Global trade and economics research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Washington D.C. (United States), Moscow (Russia) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Sejong.

Largest cities, 2022-now

1 BeijingChina 421 works
2 Washington D.C.United States 198 works
3 MoscowRussia 191 works
4 ShanghaiChina 184 works
5 LondonUnited Kingdom 133 works
6 New DelhiIndia 125 works
7 TokyoJapan 119 works
8 HanoiVietnam 103 works
9 NanjingChina 96 works
10 WuhanChina 94 works

Where it is the local speciality

SejongKR · 39.4 works53×

← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Global trade and economics than the world average.

See Global trade and economics on the map

Where is the best place to study Global trade and economics?

Among universities, judged by research, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science and University of International Business and Economics score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged

40%

Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share

10%

Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale

30%

Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%

10%

Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad

10%

Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.

#	University	Score	Top 10%	Specialisation	Works	Growth
1	Graduate Institute of International and Development StudiesSwitzerland	67.7	34.1%	44.1×	15	+70.3%
2	London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom	65.8	18.3%	13.1×	28	-4.6%
3	University of International Business and EconomicsChina	63.9	12.7%	48.6×	41	+72.5%
4	University of JohannesburgSouth Africa	62.2	13.0%	6.2×	34	+139.4%
5	Peking UniversityChina	62.0	7.4%	3.1×	57	+29.2%
6	University of OxfordUnited Kingdom	61.6	13.9%	1.9×	24	+28.8%
7	Dalian Maritime UniversityChina	58.8	32.7%	3.4×	11	+88.3%
8	Nanjing University of Finance and EconomicsChina	58.4	23.4%	17.5×	20	+114.4%
9	Birla Institute of Technology and Science, PilaniIndia	58.1	31.2%	2.7×	9	+146.8%
10	Central University of Finance and EconomicsChina	57.9	14.6%	26.1×	26	+29.5%
11	Renmin University of ChinaChina	57.6	14.2%	10.4×	30	+103.4%
12	Shanghai University of Finance and EconomicsChina	57.6	17.6%	24.6×	22	+91.4%
13	Yale UniversityUnited States	57.4	16.7%	1.9×	19	+111.9%
14	University of TorontoCanada	56.0	26.1%	0.8×	15	+25.0%
15	Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina	54.5	23.4%	1.2×	19	+69.3%
16	Bocconi UniversityItaly	54.3	11.5%	18.7×	14	+45.8%
17	University of SussexUnited Kingdom	54.0	20.5%	6.7×	15	-13.0%
18	Zhejiang University of Finance and EconomicsChina	53.3	20.4%	17.9×	12	+38.8%
19	Southwestern University of Finance and EconomicsChina	53.1	12.5%	14.9×	19	+112.7%
20	Dartmouth CollegeUnited States	53.0	14.4%	4.8×	11	+22.0%
21	University of California, BerkeleyUnited States	52.5	25.0%	1.5×	13	+3.7%
22	Zhongnan University of Economics and LawChina	52.2	16.1%	21.6×	19	+99.5%
23	The University of SydneyAustralia	52.2	18.0%	1.7×	19	+78.4%
24	University of GroningenNetherlands	52.2	26.1%	2.0×	12	-11.2%
25	Fudan UniversityChina	51.7	14.4%	1.9×	26	+72.7%
26	Tsinghua UniversityChina	51.6	14.6%	1.1×	24	+68.2%
27	University of ChicagoUnited States	51.6	12.5%	2.2×	17	+45.2%
28	New York UniversityUnited States	51.2	17.7%	1.5×	15	+55.2%
29	Shandong University of Finance and EconomicsChina	50.9	23.0%	20.1×	14	+17.2%
30	Beijing Normal UniversityChina	50.8	11.4%	3.5×	25	+79.4%
31	Xiamen UniversityChina	50.5	14.8%	3.1×	24	+115.2%
32	Copenhagen Business SchoolDenmark	50.1	18.5%	9.1×	13	+2.5%
33	University of Hong KongChina	50.1	21.2%	1.4×	12	+3.2%
34	University of WarwickUnited Kingdom	49.8	18.3%	2.7×	11	+85.2%
35	University of California San DiegoUnited States	49.8	18.1%	1.1×	9	+87.6%
36	European University InstituteItaly	49.5	20.3%	23.1×	15	-12.7%
37	Princeton UniversityUnited States	49.3	28.0%	2.1×	8	-32.5%
38	Chinese University of Hong KongChina	49.2	9.2%	3.0×	19	+7.0%
39	Texas A&M University SystemUnited States	48.8	23.5%	4.5×	10	+6.2%
40	Australian National UniversityAustralia	48.7	11.0%	6.6×	30	-16.3%
41	University of LeedsUnited Kingdom	47.9	29.5%	1.7×	9	-7.0%
42	City University of Hong KongChina	45.8	14.3%	1.9×	10	+19.5%
43	National University of SingaporeSingapore	45.0	12.0%	2.2×	24	-16.1%
44	Duke UniversityUnited States	43.9	22.9%	1.4×	11	-17.6%
45	Universitat de ValènciaSpain	43.8	25.1%	2.0×	10	-15.1%
46	Harvard UniversityUnited States	43.6	21.5%	0.3×	10	-15.4%
47	RMIT UniversityAustralia	40.2	10.0%	2.5×	9	+33.5%
48	Singapore Management UniversitySingapore	39.8	9.9%	16.4×	16	-15.3%
49	Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore	38.6	12.4%	2.0×	14	-5.6%
50	KU LeuvenBelgium	38.1	13.2%	1.5×	13	-30.4%
51	Indian Institute of Foreign TradeIndia	36.1	0.3%	168.6×	27	-1.2%
52	University of BernSwitzerland	33.9	0.6%	2.3×	11	+19.4%
53	University of IndonesiaIndonesia	31.3	2.9%	2.9×	31	-19.0%
54	University of MacauChina	28.5	4.7%	2.8×	8	-4.5%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Global trade and economics, country by country

Is Global trade and economics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 11% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Global trade and economics.

grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Global trade and economics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.050% in 2024.

Fractional works of Global trade and economics over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

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Which countries lead Global trade and economics research?

By volume, 2022-now

How concentrated that is

Which institutions lead Global trade and economics research?

By volume, 2022-now

Who are the leading researchers in Global trade and economics?

What are the most cited papers in Global trade and economics?

Where is Global trade and economics research done?

Largest cities, 2022-now

Where it is the local speciality

Where is the best place to study Global trade and economics?

Is Global trade and economics research growing?

Its share of all research

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Which topics inside it are moving

Related research

Discussion