Hylke Vandenbussche

Free Trade between the EU and US: A Match Made in Heaven

In a recent column in VOX, Hylke Vandenbussche et al. estimate the gains from a deal of zero tariffs and non-tariff measures between the US and the EU, taking into account global value chains and input-output linkages in production. They find that free trade would substantially benefit both the EU and the US, and these gains would result from the reduction in non-tariff barriers rather than tariffs.

Most Ms Vandenbussche’s work is on trade and trade policy, in which she documents the effects of import tariffs and anti-dumping measures on firm performance. Currently, she is working on issues of trade policy, involving the use of Global Value Chain analysis with input-output relationships between all country-sectors in the world. This methodology has been applied to evaluate the effects on Brexit and TTIP for European sectors and countries. During her visit she will interact with Gabriel Felbermayer and other ifo researchers and hopes for fruitful interactions and research spillovers that are mutually beneficial.

Hylke Vandenbussche is a Full Professor in International Economics in the Department of Economics of the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium. Previously, she was the holder of the Chair Jacquemin at the University of Louvain-la-neuve (UCL) in Belgium where she was affiliated to the CORE research centre.

She started her career as an assistant professor at Cambridge University and held visiting professorships at Dartmouth. She held research positions in Tilburg, Warwick and the London School of Economics (LSE) during and after her PhD. She is a CEPR Research Fellow and a member of the Scientific Committee of the Midwest International Meetings and the European Trade Study Group (ETSG). She serves on the editorial board of the World Trade Review and was a panel member of Economic Policy. She is also affiliated to the research department of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) and has acted as an advisor to the EU Commission, contributing to several policy reports.