Muhammed A. Yildirim

Economic Complexity

Muhammed A. Yıldırım’s current research projects are mainly in two areas. In the first area, his research focuses on economic complexity, both on theoretical aspects to build bridges with traditional economic models and practical aspects such as extending the complexity framework to technologies (through patents), scientific progress and green economies. In the second area, he is extending his work on global value chains to understand the effects of international linkages on inflation. His research in this area has used state-of-the-art economic models to address contemporary problems such as unequal Covid vaccine distribution, inflation, friend-shoring and sanctions on Russian goods. His research in this area has been highlighted in global media including the New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC and CNN and he was interviewed by the New Yorker magazine. While at CESifo, he will continue his research in both economic complexity and global value chains.

Mr. Yıldırım has a wide research interest revolving around understanding network and spillover effects in a multitude of research areas including industrial policy, international trade, productivity, economic growth, global value chains and matching. His work has appeared in high-impact economic journals and prestigious working-paper series. He is also a co-author of The Atlas of Economic Complexity, published by MIT Press. His PhD research involved using tools and concepts from complexity, network science and evolution to understand complex biological and the pharmaceutical industry. His research in these areas has been published in high-impact journals including Science, Nature, Nature Biotechnology, and Cell and has been cited extensively.

Muhammed A. Yıldırım is Research Director of the Growth Lab at Harvard University and on-leave from College of Administrative Sciences and Economics of Koç University where he is a faculty member in Department of Economics. He obtained his PhD from Harvard University and a BS degree from the California Institute of Technology. After his graduate studies, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for International Development at Harvard University. A native of Turkey, Dr Yildirim lives in Belmont, MA with his wife and two kids.