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Econ-Dept

Joel Rodrigue


Electronic mail: joel.b.rodrigue at vanderbilt.edu

Courier Mail:   Department of Economics, 415 Calhoun Hall, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN 37240, USA

USPS Mail:   Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B #351819, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37235-1819 USA

Phone: (615) 322-4754      Fax: (615) 343-8495      Office 102B Calhoun Hall     


Assistant Professor of Economics

B.A. Hons. (Manitoba); M.A. (Queen's); Ph.D. (Queen's)


I teach Economics 333 Special Topics in International Trade and Economics 231 Intermediate Microeconomics in the Fall of 2008. Here is a link to the seminar series in the Department of Economics at Vanderbilt University.


My research is in international trade, firm heterogeneity, and applied econometrics. Here are my CV, IDEAS page and a picture.


Current Research

  • Foreign Direct Investment, Exports and Aggregate Productivity (July 2008)This paper presents and estimates a model of foreign direct investment (FDI) and exports with heterogeneous firms. The model highlights the interaction between firms’ location and export decisions and their effect on aggregate productivity and welfare. The model is estimated using plant-level Indonesian manufacturing data. The results are broadly consistent with the pattern of productivity, exports and FDI across plants. Counterfactual experiments suggest that there are substantial productivity gains due to international trade and FDI. They emphasize that evaluating the substitutability and complementarity of trade and FDI is crucial to determining the aggregate effects of trade and FDI policy. The supplemental appendix is available here.


    Forthcoming Papers

  • Does the Use of Imported Intermediates Increase Productivity? Plant-Level Evidence , Journal of Development Economics, 2008, with Hiroyuki Kasahara. This is a copy of the working paper. This paper examines whether importing intermediate goods improves plant performance. While addressing the issue of simultaneous productivity shocks and decisions to import intermediates, we estimate the impact foreign intermediates have on plants’ productivity using plant-level Chilean manufacturing panel data. Across different estimators, we find evidence that becoming an importer of foreign intermediates improves productivity.


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