RESEARCH STATEMENTBedassa Tadesse

Department of EconomicsUniversity of Minnesota-Duluth, Duluth, MN-55812

I. Introduction

My research focuses on three areas of economics: Development Economics,

International Trade, and International Migration. The primary objective of my research is

to identify the root causes of economic growth and development problems of emerging

economies, and is rooted on my effort to understand why some economies exhibit vibrant

progress while others stagnate. I strive to inform the public and influence social and

economic policy makers by making empirically verifiable accounts of the economic and

institutional factors which enhance or impede growth and the standard of living of

nations. Thus, my research is grounded on modern economic theories and utilizes

rigorous econometric techniques. While, these features make both my methods and

results appealing to other researchers, they also enrich my classroom teaching efforts.

My research interest is largely shaped by my own upbringing, graduate training

background, travel experience, and a strong desire to find solutions to socio-economic

problems. I do research with the conviction that I can make a difference in how public

policy decisions affect people’s lives. Also, I do research as it keeps me current on

substantive issues in my profession. The remainder of this statement proceeds as follows.

In section II, I present the motivation behind my research programs. In section III and IV,

I provide a summary of my past and ongoing research programs, respectively. I discuss

the state of journals on which my publications have appeared in section V, and my

research goals in section VI. Section VII provides bibliography of my publications.

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II. Research Motivation

My interest to do research in development economics stemmed from my personal

challenges. I was born to a farming family located in a remote rural village (in Ethiopia).

The village had no electricity, transportation facilities, and other basic amenities. My

parents were poor even by the standard of the society where I grew up. To attend the only

school available in my area, I had to overcome a series of challenges: travelling more

than 10 miles every day, being penalized for arriving late to school, and being without

lunch each day. These problems have prompted me to ask several questions early on in

my life: Why are some people so poor while others have a lot? Why is my school located

far away from where I live? Why is there no electricity in my area? My quest to find

answers to these and related problems has led me, not only to study agricultural

economics and development economics in my undergraduate and graduate programs,

respectively, but has also inspired me to do research in development economics.

My research in international economics is a result of my desire to explore why

investment in some African countries is dominated by firms from a few other countries

such as Japan and China. I started doing research on international trade when I was a

first year graduate student. My research project ultimately culminated in my doctoral

dissertation. In my international economics research, I strive to understand how

international trade helps the poor, what determines how much a nation trades, how

exchange rate and foreign investment policies matter in determining the volume of trade,

and whether the ability of a country to serve as a destination for foreign firms depends on

its potential to be a platform from which investors can service other nations.

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Finally, I am motivated to do research in international migration due to my strong

sense of desire to show that immigrants have more roles to play than is currently known.

This conviction has led me to devote a significant amount of time in identifying the

means and ways through which immigrants influence trade flows between their home and

host countries. My research in this area has a lot to do with my applied economics

training and my research findings from international trade and development economics.

My studies in international migration also use modern econometric methods. The list of

original research articles I published in top tiered journals in this area are testaments to

my achievements. Below I provide a summary of my past and ongoing research works,

while also establishing the links among the projects.

III. Research Summary

3.1) International Trade and Migration

I have completed 11 original research articles in this area. Seven of them have

already been accepted for publication and/or are forthcoming. Four are under review. For

my dissertation, I examined the extent to which a host nation's market characteristics

affect the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI). I develop separate measures of

market maturity and export platform status of FDI host nations. Using these measures,

first I investigated the effects of market maturity and export platform status of host

countries on the FDI-trade relationship between the FDI host and source countries. My

findings from this research resulted in the publication of “Host market Characteristics,

FDI, and the FDI-trade Relationship” (with Michael Ryan) in the Journal of

International Trade and Economic Development Vol. 13(2) (2004):199-229. Further

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extending this work, we also examined the link between FDI and exports at the industry

level. This resulted in our second article “Export Platforms and the Industry Specific

FDI-Trade Relationship” on the Journal of Economic Integration Vol. 20(4) (2005):

644-671. Our results from this study show that the observed relationship between

industry level exports and FDI changes from being complementary to substitution when

accounting for the host market’s export platform status, a result with important policy

implication for nations seeking to attract more FDI by developing their capacity to serve

as a platform for exports.

Both of our studies involved working with a number of variables and large data

set. One of the variables was bilateral trade flow. In the process of conducting the

studies, I learned that trade flow itself is an endogenous variable that can be affected by

several attributes of both the FDI host and source country. Thus, I started to investigate

what actually determines the volume of bilateral trade flows. My attempt to do so led me

to a cascade of my current research projects—investigation of the roles that immigrants

and fluctuations in real exchange rate components play in determining bilateral trade

flows. As each of these questions constituted extension of the literature in international

trade and migration, I turned my focus first on the role that immigrants could play in

enhancing trade flows between their host and home countries. A brief account of the

immigrant-trade link literature presented in the next paragraph serves as the basis for the

array of research projects I have completed in this area.

Using U.S. data, Gould (1994) studied the link between immigrants and trade.

The literature that followed Gould (1994) indicates that immigrants influence their host-

home country trade flows through three broadly related channels: preference,

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information, and contract enforcement effects. (i) Preference Effect—if immigrants enter

their host countries with preferences for home country-produced goods and fail to find

the desired goods, or reasonable substitutes available, their collective demand leads to a

rise in their host country’s imports from their home countries. (ii) Information Effect—

immigrants have language skills and/or knowledge of home country customs, laws and

business practices, which if used effectively, can help in identifying trading opportunities,

establishing contacts, or facilitating communications, and thus enhancing bilateral trade

flows between their home and host countries. (iii) Contract Enforcement Effect—

immigrant communities are often close-knit and they form networks involving co-ethnic

peoples in the host and home countries. These networks may help in deterring

opportunistic behavior, reducing lax contract arrangements, and enforcing informal

contracting agreements.

Teaming up with Roger White of Franklin and Marshall College, PA, I have

worked in this area since the summer of 2005. First, we summarized what is known about

the role that immigrants play in international trade and then we outlined what we

potentially see as a contribution of immigrants. We first examined if changes in

immigration policy might affect the observed immigrant-trade link. Given the “White-

Only” history of the Australian immigration policy, we used Australian data as a test

case. We, thus, used the stock of Australian immigrants and its trade with 101 home

countries during the years 1989-2000 and evaluated whether cultural pluralism fostered

through the abandonment of the “White-only” Australian Immigration Policy (WAP)

generated variation in the immigrant-trade links observed in the literature. This resulted

in our first article “Immigration Policy, Cultural Pluralism, and Trade: Evidence from

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the White-only Australian Policy”. Our work was published in the October 2007 issue of

Pacific Economic Review Vol. 12(4): 489-510. In addition to confirming the pro-trade

effects of immigrants already observed in the literature, our results showed that

immigrants from home nations that were afforded preference under the White-only

Australian policy exert greater proportional influence on Australian imports from their

home countries than immigrants from nations not privy to such preference. We also

showed that immigrants from the latter group of countries influence Australian exports to

their home countries proportionally more than do immigrants from the former group. Our

findings suggested the relevance of cultural diversity and immigration policy to a nation's

trade patterns.

These findings further led us to think of new venues through which immigrants

can affect trade flows between their host and home countries. Consequently, we

hypothesized that immigrants can have cultural difference-bridging effects —a new

channel through which immigrants might affect trade flows between their home and host

countries by fully or partially offsetting a potential trade-inhibiting influences of

differences in national cultures. This finding serves as an extension of the literature on

trade-immigrant link. In an effort to develop a reliable measure of cultural differences

between immigrant home and host countries, we constructed a composite index of the

Traditional authority vs. Secular-Rational authority (TSR) and the Survival values vs.

Self-Expression values (SSE) dimension of culture between the U.S. and 75 different

home countries. Our measure of cultural distance reflected the degree to which shared

norms and values in each of the countries differ from that of the U.S. Using U.S. state-

level aggregate exports and the stock of immigrants from 75 countries for which our

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measure of cultural distance can be computed, we tested our hypothesis. This resulted in

our article “Cultural Distance as a Determinant of Bilateral Trade Flows: Do

Immigrants Counter the Effect of Cultural Differences?” forthcoming 2008 on Applied

Economics Letters. In the paper, we showed that (i) greater cultural differences between

the U.S. and its trading partners, indeed, negatively affects U.S. state-level exports to

immigrant home countries and (ii) immigrants have exert pro-export effects that counters

the trade-inhibiting effects of cultural distance.

Given the composite nature of our measure of cultural distance, we thought that

further investigation of whether each of the dimensions from which we constructed our

measure of cultural distance affects bilateral trade flow is warranted. Thus, employing

data that span the years 1997-2004 and decomposing our measure of cultural distance

into its component dimensions--“Traditional authority vs. Secular-Rational

authority” and “Survival values vs. Self-Expression values” , in another project, we

examined the effects of each of the dimensions of cultural distance on trade flows

between the U.S. and 54 home countries. Our findings were published in the August 2008

issue of The World Economy Vol. 31(8):1078-1096 with the title “Cultural Distance

and the U.S. Immigrant–Trade Link”. Extending the existing literature, our results from

the project indicated that differences in the dimension of culture inhibits trade

between the U.S. and immigrants’ home countries while differences in the

dimension reduce U.S. imports levels and increase U.S. exports. Confirming our prior

results, we also reported that immigrants ameliorate the trade-inhibiting influences of

both dimensions of cultural distance while also increasing U.S. imports from their

respective home countries. Further, we showed that the pro-trade effect of immigrants

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more prominently counters the trade-inhibiting effects of the dimension of culture in

increasing U.S. exports to immigrant home countries.

Our work has, thus far, validated each of our hypotheses: (i) that cultural distance

inhibits trade flows between immigrants’ home and host countries, irrespective of

whether it is measured as a composite index, or along each of the two dimensions and (ii)

immigrants have pro-trade effect that fully or partially counters the trade-inhibiting effect

of cultural differences between their home and host countries. Having done so, we

wanted to investigate (a) the source of the pro-trade effects of immigrants and (b) the

extent of the pro-trade effects of immigrants by using a more disaggregated trade data. If

the results from disaggregated data do not support our earlier findings, then our

conclusion from the aggregate data could be called into question. Thus, in our article

titled “Do Immigrants Counter the Effect of Cultural Distance on Trade? Evidence

from U.S. State-Level Exports” forthcoming 2008 on the Journal of Socio-Economics,

we examined U.S. state-level exports to 75 countries during the year 2000. In addition to

confirming our earlier results that state level exports to immigrant home countries

diminish with increases in cultural distance, our results from this research showed that

immigrants are able to increase state level exports by initiating new exports and/or

intensifying existing level of exports, both of which help to offset the export-inhibiting

effects of cultural distance. Effectively, we were able to identify the mechanisms through

which immigrants residing in each of the U.S, states could exercise their cultural

difference bridging effects. We also quantified both the trade initiation and intensification

effects as well as the trade-inhibiting effects of national cultural differences.

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After establishing the mechanisms (trade initiation and trade intensification)

through which immigrants exercise their cultural difference bridging effects both at

aggregate (country) and disaggregate (state level) U.S. trade data, we wanted to test if our

findings are valid in other host country settings as well. Thus, placing particular

emphasis on immigrants from the Former Soviet Republic and Post-Communist

countries living in Italy, we further examined the immigrant-trade link in

another project. Employing data for Italy and 68 trade partners spanning the years 1996-

2001, we examined these immigrants influenced Italian exports to and imports from their

respective country classification. We found that while Italian immigrants as well have

pro-trade influences, estimated per-immigrant effects of immigrants from Former Soviet

Republic and Post-Communist countries to be greater than the effects of

immigrants from non- and non- countries. The project culminated in our

article “East-West Migration and the Immigrant-Trade Link: Evidence from Italy,”

forthcoming in the 2008 issue of The Romanian Journal of European Studies.

In another research project that followed from our examination of the effect of

immigrants under different country setting, we also examined the cultural difference

bridging effects immigrants using products that embed the host country’s culture. Placing

a primary focus on exports of cultural products and a number of cultural product sub-

classifications and using aggregate U.S. and state-specific immigrant stocks and a

measure of cultural distance we have already contributed to the literature on the

immigrant-trade link, we examined the ability of immigrants to initiate and/or intensify

existing U.S. state-level exports of cultural products to their respective home countries.

Our findings will appear in the November 2008 issue of the North American Journal of

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Economics and Finance under the title “Immigrants, Cultural Distance and U.S. State-

Level Exports of Cultural Products.” While also confirming the positive links we have

found for non-cultural products in earlier studies, our results from this study suggest that

immigrants have pro-trade effect on goods that also embed the host country’s culture.

Further, we report heterogeneity in immigrant effects across cultural product sub-

classifications, suggesting variation in the abilities of immigrants to influence trade by

overcoming information asymmetries arising from differences the culture-content of

products.

Our studies so far considered only one host country at a time. Given the

heterogeneity of immigration and trade policies of various countries, generalization of

our results observed from analyzing one host country at a time may be difficult. Thus,

we wanted to analyze the immigrant trade link using multiple host countries. Increasing

the number of immigrant host countries also resulted in an exponential expansion of the

data we worked with and, thus, the breadth and depth of our study. Using trade and

immigration data for Nine OECD member host nations and 67 other trading countries

spanning the years 1996–2001, we conducted a more in-depth examination of the effect

of cultural distance on bilateral trade flows. Results from our project will appear in the

November 2008 issue of Open Economic Reviews under the title “Does Cultural

Distance Hinder Trade in Goods-A Comparative Study of Nine OECD Member

Nations.” Our findings from this study show that cultural dissimilarity between nations

has an economically significant and consistently negative effect on aggregate and

disaggregated trade flows of most of the immigrant host countries’ bilateral trade flows

with the home countries. Their effects, however, varies in magnitude and economic

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significance across measures of trade and our cohort of OECD reference countries. With

the consistent negative influence of cultural distance that we observed from this in depth

study, we indicated that policymakers who wish to enhance their nation’s trade flows

would need to work on the means and ways that enhance the build-up of trust and

commitment to initiate and complete international trade deals.

In another multi-host and multi-home country immigrant-trade link investigation,

we used the same data set and examined the extent to which the bilateral trade flows of

the Nine OECD host countries with the home countries in our sample are affected by the

stock of immigrants. We specifically focused on the differences in the extent to which

immigrants in each of the Nine OECD host countries influence bilateral trade flows.

Accounting for the heterogeneity of both the host and home countries in our data, we

were able to show that the ability of immigrants to foster increased trade flows between

their home and host countries depends, in part, on the characteristics of their host country

relative to the home country. Our findings from this project titled “Immigration, Cultural

Distance and Trade: A Study of Nine OECD Host Countries” has been submitted to the

Scandinavian Journal of Economics.

Given the results of our multiple host and home country project, we also worked

on another project in which we examined the effect of institutional dissimilarities

between host and home countries on the ability of immigrants to influence bilateral trade

flows. This project produced our article “Home Country Economic Development and

the Immigrants-Trade Link: Evidence from Australia” which is under review for

possible publication in Development Policy Review Journal. In this study, we showed

that, indeed, home country economic development has economically and statistically

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significant impact on the extent with which immigrants increase trade flows between

their home and host countries. We specifically noted that the trade-influencing effect of

immigrants varies with home country heterogeneity in the existence and functionality of

institutions that monitor and/or enforce international trade deals.

In another line of our research on the role of immigrants, we also investigate

whether the pro-trade effect of immigrants observed in goods trade also extends to trade

in services. Hence, in our article titled “Do Immigrants Enhance International Trade in

Services: The Case of U.S. Tourism Exports” submitted to Tourism Economics, using

data on international tourist arrivals from 86 countries to the United States during the

years 1995-2004 and a series of zero-inflated negative binomial models, we provide the

first empirical evidence on the extent to which immigrants affect the number of tourist

arrivals in the US.

Lastly, after a series of our contributions to the literature on immigrant-trade link

which have appeared in journals with varying areas of emphasis, we hypothesized that

immigrants’ effect on trade to vary following the composition of immigrants themselves.

Thus in our latest line of research titled “Refugee and Non-Refugee Immigrants,

Cultural Distance and U.S. Trade with Immigrant Home Countries” submitted for

review to the Journal of International Trade and Development Economics (already

revised and re-submitted), we discern the relative influences of refugee and non-refugee

immigrant populations within the U.S. on trade, while accounting for cultural and

institutional differences between the U.S. and immigrants’ home countries.

Our hypothesis in this research was motivated by the fact that immigrants are

generally heterogeneous—that differ greatly in terms of their anthropogenic

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characteristics (demographic, educational, and occupational), the push and pull factors

behind their migration decisions and thus their entry classifications, their ability to

maintain and form social, cultural, and economic ties with others, and the pace and

propensity at which they assimilate with their newly found macro-economic

environment. These differences have potential implications on how and to what extent

different immigrant groups can affect trade flows between their home and host countries.

Our results show that while immigrants, in general, exert positive influences on U.S.

imports from and exports to their home countries, the influence of refugee immigrants is

quite minimal when compared to that of non-refugee immigrants. To conceptualize the

economic meaning of our results in this research, we also provide estimates of the extent

to which each type of immigrants offsets transport costs, extending the boundary of the

extant literature.

3.2) Research In Development Economics

While studying for my M.Sc., I conducted a field survey of poor rural households

in the world’s largest anti-poverty project known as the “Integrated Rural Development

Program-IRDP”. My findings from the survey were published under the title

“Determinants of the Household Probability to Cross the Poverty Line: An Application

of Tobit Analysis” in the 1996 issue of the Journal of Rural Development Vol.

15(4):453-465. In addition to measuring the determinants of the probability of a

beneficiary household to cross the poverty line, in this research I developed an index

which can be used to gauge the extent to which a household covered under the program

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was able to move towards the targeted poverty line, even if it remained in poverty. The

article was my first empirical work in the area of development economics.

During my travel in Southern India, I learned that cultivation of Paddy (Rice) is

the major economic occupation for a significant number of rural households in the area. I

was thus interested in studying how Paddy farmers in the area would be able to improve

their production efficiency. Using input and output data that I collected from the Center

for the Study of Cost of Cultivation of Agricultural Products in the state, located at Tamil

Nadu Agricultural University, I wrote a research article “Technical efficiency in Paddy

Farms of Tamil Nadu: An Analysis based on Farm Size and Ecological Zone” with S.

Krishnamurthy. The article was published in the 1997 issue of Agricultural Economics

Vol. 16(3): 185-192, a publication of the international society of Agricultural Economics.

Our findings indicated that Paddy production in the state can be increased by an average

of 17% (varying from a minimum of 3 percent to a maximum of 41 percent) without the

use of any new technology provided that farmers in the state were encouraged to adopt

methods of production employed by other farmers in the area. Our work has garnered

significant interest among policy makers working for the state’s department of

agriculture.

After returning to Ethiopia in 1996, using the rural household survey data that I

collected while I was in India, I wrote another paper which measures the level of

inequality among poor households. The main objective of the article was to show the

need for focusing on the ultra poor in India while developing similar anti-poverty

measures in Ethiopia. This resulted in the publication of an article titled “Measuring

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Inequality: An Experience using Indian Data” on the 1998 issue of the Ethiopian

Journal of Economics Vol. 5(1): 27-38.

In the same year, I started working on a joint project to study the determinants of

success (graduation and achievement rates) among students’ in enrolled in middle-level

agricultural education. Applying a multivariate statistical tools involving Fisher’s linear

discriminant function and Logit qualitative response model, I identified that a student’s

gender, preference for agriculture, region of origin, parental occupation and high school

background discriminate between successful and unsuccessful students. More

importantly, we were able to find answer to one major question that the university

officials were grappling with at the time--whether being from a rural area of the country

gives students a better chance to succeed in middle-level agricultural education. Our

recommendations were implemented by the university authority that funded the research.

The results from this research were published in the 1999 issue of a highly reputed social

science research journal in the region, the Eastern Africa Social Science Research

Review Vol. 15(1):1-18 under the title “Anthropogenic Determinants of Success in

Agricultural Education: The Case of Jimma College of Agriculture, Ethiopia.”

In the fall 1999, I joined the graduate studies program of Western Michigan

University. While working on my graduate studies, I continued dong research projects

that I started earlier. Together with my development economics professor, I wrote another

article “Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Demand for Children in Jimma

City, Ethiopia.” The article appeared in the 2002 issue of the Eastern Africa Social

Science Research Review 18(2):43-67. In this research, we applied the economic theory

of consumer choice and examined how some household characteristics affect the demand

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for children among households in Jimma City, Ethiopia. We simulated the average

number of children desired by a woman of median urban household characteristics and

assessed the extent to which an exogenously set population policy goal of lower fertility

level can be achieved in the area. Our findings indicate that the need for enhancing

paternal and maternal education, altering the economic value of children, increasing

household income, delaying the marriage age, and institutional approaches that involve

“faith-based initiatives” as important policy measures to pursue to achieve reduced

fertility in Ethiopia.

After I joined the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the fall of 2003, although I

devoted a significant proportion of my research on international trade and migration, I

continued doing research in the area of development economics. Teaming up with

Bichaka Fayssia of Middle Tennessee State University, TN and Christian Nsiah of Black

Hills State University, SD, I wrote an article titled “The Impact of Tourism on the

Economic Growth and Development in Africa” forthcoming in the December 2008 issue

of Tourism Economics Vol. 14(4)—Issue Forthcoming. In this project, using a panel

data of 42 African countries for the years that span from 1995 to 2004, we explored the

potential contribution of tourism to economic growth and development within the

conventional neoclassical framework. Our results show that receipts from the tourism

industry significantly contribute both to the current level of gross domestic product and

the economic growth of Sub-Saharan African countries as do investments in physical and

human capital. The implication of our findings is that African economies could enhance

their short-run economic growth by strategically strengthening their tourism industries.

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In two other research projects that I have recently completed with Bichaka

Fayissa of Middle Tennesse State University, we examined the effect of a unilateral trade

policy initiative known as the “African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)” granted

by the U.S. to some Sub-Saharan African (SSA) on U.S. imports from the eligible

African countries using aggregated and disaggregated data. In the first article “The

Impact of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and U.S. Imports from Sub-

Saharan Africa (SSA)” on the October 2008 issue of the Journal of International

Development Vol. 20(7):920-941, we examined if AGOA has increased aggregate

imports of the U.S. from the eligible countries. In the second article “Does a Unilateral

Policy Change Promote Export? The Case of African Growth and Opportunity Act”,

co-authored with Bichaka Fayissa, Middle Tennesse State University, TN, and Andrew

McColley, International Business Machines, Corp., Rochester, MN, and forthcoming in

the 2008 issue of Review of Development and Cooperation [ Vol. 2(1) - Issue

forthcoming], we examined if the implementation of AGOA has resulted in the initiation

of any new and/or the intensification of existing country specific exports at the lowest

possible level of product disaggregation.

3.3) Research in Other Areas of Economics:

My research interest to work on projects that involve substantial econometric

analysis has allowed me to team up with other faculty members, write proposals for

funding my research works of important social policy implications. In the fall of 2006,

together with Jennifer Shultz (a colleague whose research area focuses on health

economics), I wrote a proposal and obtained the University of Minnesota’s Graduate

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School Grant-in-aid funding to study of the effect that individual social capital has on

individual health and tolerance.

After securing the funding, we teamed up with another faculty member of the

department, Maureen O’Brien, and completed the first part of the research focusing on

the social capital and Health. Results from the first part of our study were published as

“Social Capital and Self-Rated Health: Results from the US 2006 Social Capital

Survey of One Community” in the august 2008 issue of a top tiered social science and

health economics journal, Social Science & Medicine under the title Vol. 67(4): 606-

617. Together with Schultz and Obrien, currently I am working on the second part of the

project-Does Individual Social Capital affect Tolerance?

I am also involved in two other health economics research projects with Dr.

Schultz. In these projects, we assess the demand for voluntary health insurance among

Europeans age 50 and older, putting specific emphasis on the effects of age limitations,

employment status and premium regulations. We use extensive data on health

characteristics of individuals obtained from the 2004 SHARE survey. Titled “Demand

for Voluntary Health Insurance by Europeans Age 50 and above” this paper is

currently being revised for publication on “Applied Economics”.

IV. Summary of Future Research Programs

I have a very strong desire and plan to continue working on the trade-immigrant

link research, analyzing the effect of exchange rate volatility on bilateral trade flows, and

identifying the determinants of the allocation of aid. I am also committed to continuing

my work on health related research projects.

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To conduct a more refined and in-depth investigation of the immigrant-trade link,

in collaboration with my research partner in the area, Roger White, Marshall and Franklin

College, PA, I am currently writing a proposal for funding the purchase of a large data on

bilateral flows of all countries in the world. The goal of this project is to: (i) establish

whether the immigrant-trade link exists for all host and home countries, (ii) identify

country(-ies) for which the link is missing, and (iii) investigate what distinguishes the

host and home countries where the immigrant-trade link is missing from those countries

where the immigrant-trade link exist. We believe that the findings of this research will

have more profound policy implications.

In pursuit of an answer to the question I posed to myself while studying the FDI

flows and bilateral trade patterns, I am currently writing an article: “Volatility in

Exchange Rate Components and the Volume of International Trade”. In this project, I

decompose the changes in the real exchange rate series into fundamental and transitory

components (market microstructure and stochastic element), model the volatility in each

component via a GARCH process, and provide a better understanding of the effect of

fluctuations in exchange rate on the volume of aggregate and disaggregate U.S. trade

with Canada, Germany, and Hong Kong during the 1989-2002 period.

In another project “Determinants of US Aid for Trade (AFT) Budget Allocation”

with Bichaka Fayissa, Middle Tennessee State University, I am also investigating role of

altruistic and self-serving goals in the allocation of aid for trade by developed countries.

A continuation of our project on the demand for voluntary health insurance by

Europeans age 50 and above, together with Schultz, University of Minnesota-Duluth,

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MN, I am also studying the role of supplementary insurance in the Utilization of Medical

Care among Europeans.

V. Ratings of the Journals in which My Research Works have appeared

I intend to maximize the exposure of my findings to potential readers. Thus, while

the content and areas of my research have determined where I chose to send my research

works in selecting the outlet for my research findings, I consider the readership of the

journals. I also consider whether the outlet is international or regional in appeal.

Consequently, my research articles have appeared on diverse journals ranging in their

coverage from international trade, to development and health economics, and from

medium to top tiered journals in their respective areas of specialty. While an accurate

measure of the impact of each of my research articles may be difficult to assess, Table-1

provides a brief summary of the list of the journals in which my articles have appeared

and information on abstracts indexation, acceptance rate (%), and the impact factor,

whenever the information is available.

VI. Research Goals:

My research goal is to establish myself as a reputed researcher in the area of

international trade and development economics. Thus, I strive to continue doing research

along the lines of investigation that I have already started. In the long run, I plan to put

the series of my articles on international trade and migration into a book (with emphasis

on policy and quantitative economics).

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I believe that achieving my research goals require cooperating with other

researchers. Thus, building upon my past experience in working with researchers of

diverse background, I endeavor to work on joint research projects with colleagues,

students and researchers from other institutions alike. I find joint research works as fun as

they are challenging. It is with this belief that I developed a strong sense of desire to

continue doing research with my students, professors, colleagues, and non-colleagues.

My research interest is motivated by the fact that it not only results in peer reviewed

journal publications, but that it also enriches and informs my classroom teaching. In order

to maximize the impact of my research results, I also have the goal of actively

participating in and/or organizing local, regional, and international conferences.

VII. Bibliography of My Publications

7.1). Published Journal Articles

White, R., and Tadesse, B., (2008). “Immigrants, Cultural Distance and U.S. State-Level Exports of Cultural Goods.” The North American Journal of Economics and Finance. (In Press)

Shultz, J., O’Brien, M. and Tadesse, B., (2008). “Social Capital and Self-Rated Health: Results from the US 2006 Social Capital Survey of One Community” Journal of Social Science & Medicine, 67(4): 606-617.

Tadesse, B. and White, R., (2008). “Does Cultural Distance Hinder Trade in Goods? A Comparative Study of Nine OECD Member Nations” Open Economies Review (In Press)

White, R. and Tadesse, B., (2008). “Cultural Distance and the US Immigrant-Trade Link.” The World Economy (In Press)

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Tadesse, B. and White, R., (2008). “Do Immigrants Counter the Effect of Cultural Distance on Trade? Evidence from U.S. State Level Exports” The Journal of Socio-Economics (In Press)

Tadesse, B. and Fayissa, B. (2008) “Assessing the Impact of Development Cooperation: the Case of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and U.S. Imports from Sub-Saharan Africa” Journal of International Development, 20(7)-Forthcoming, Oct. Issue.

Tadesse, B. and White, R., (2008). “Cultural Distance as a Determinant of Bilateral Trade Flows: Do Immigrants Counter the Effect of Cultural Differences?” Applied Economics Letters (In Press).

Fayissa, B. Nsiah, C. and Tadesse, B., (2008). “The Impact of Tourism on Economic Growth and Development in Africa” Tourism Economics, 14(4) Forthcoming Dec. Issue.

Tadesse, B., Fayissa, B. and McColley, A., (2008) “Does a Unilateral Trade Policy Change Promote Export? The Case of African Growth and Opportunity Act.” Review of Development and Cooperation, forthcoming

White, R. and Tadesse, B., (2008). “East-West Migration and The Immigrant-Trade Link: Evidence from Italy” The Romanian Journal of European Studies (Special Issue on Migration), forthcoming

White, R. and Tadesse, B., (2007). “Immigration Policy, Cultural Pluralism and Trade: Evidence from the White Australia Policy.” Pacific Economic Review, 12(4): 485-509.

Tadesse, B. and Ryan, M., (2005). “Export platforms and industry-specific FDI-trade relationship.” Journal of Economic Integration, 20(4): 644-671.

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Tadesse, B. and Ryan, M., (2004). “Host Market Characteristics, FDI and the FDI-Trade Relationship.” Journal of International Trade and Development Economics, 13(2): 119-229.

Tadesse, B. and Assefa, S., (2002). “Empirical analysis of the determinants of demand for children in Jimma city, Ethiopia: An Application of Count Data Model.” Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review, 18(2): 44-67.

Tadesse, B., (2002). “What should be done to Enhance Improved Maize Technology Adoption in Ormoia? Some Strategy Options” The Journal of Oromo Studies, 9(1& 2): 155-174.

Tadesse, B. and G/Sellasie, K., (1999). “Anthropogenic Determinants of Success in Agricultural Education: The Case of Jimma College of Agriculture, Ethiopia.” Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review, 15(1):1-18.

Tadesse, B. and Krishnamoorthy, S., (1997). “Technical Efficiency in Paddy farms of Tamil Nadu: an analysis based on farm size and ecological zone.” Agricultural Economics, 16(3):185-192.

Tadesse, B., (1996). “Determinants of the Household Probability to Cross the Poverty Line: An Application of Tobit Analysis.” Journal of Rural Development, 15(4):453-465.

Tadesse, B., (1998). “Measuring Inequality: An Experience using Indian Data.” Ethiopian Journal of Economics, 5(1): 27-38.

7.2) Articles under Review

White, R. and Tadesse, B., “Refugee and Non-Refugee Immigrants, Cultural Distance and US Trade with Immigrant Home Countries.” Journal of International Trade and Development Economics.

Schulz, J. and Tadesse, B., “Demand for Voluntary Health Insurance by Europeans Age 50 and above.” Applied Economics.

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White, R. and Tadesse, B., “Immigration, Cultural Distance and Trade:  A Study of Nine OECD Host Countries.” The Scandinavian Journal of Economics.

Tadesse, B. and White, R., “Immigrants and International Trade in Services: The Case of Demand for US Tourism Exports.” Tourism Economics.

Tadesse, B., and White, R., “Home Country Economic Development and the Immigrants-Trade Link: Evidence from Australia.” Development Policy Review.

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Table-1: Ranking, Acceptance Rate and Impact Factor of the Journals on Which my Research Articles Have Appeared

Item Journal Indexing/Abstracting Ranking Acceptance Rate

Impact Factor

Article Citation

Frequency

1 Social Science and MedicineAbstract in Hygiene and Communicable Diseases, BIOSIS, CINAHL, Current Contents/Health Services Administration, Current Contents/Social & Behavioral Sciences, EMBASE, Elsevier BIOBASE, Geographical Abstracts, Hyg Abstr, MEDLINE®, PASCAL/CNRS, Psychology Abstracts, Research Alert, Scopus, Social Sciences Citation Index, Sociological Abstracts, Tropical Diseases Bulletin

Number #1 of the top 20 of 629 journals in the category social science/health policy (Thomson ISI Rating)

18%a 2.749

2 North American Journal of Economics and Finance RePEc, SSCI, Current Contents/Social & Behavioural Sciences, IBZ, IBSS, Econlit,

EBSCO

30-40% b 1.542

3 Open Economies ReviewABI/INFORM, ABS Academic Journal Quality Guide, Current Contents / Social & Behavioral Sciences, E-JEL, EBSCO, EconLit, Expanded Academic, Geobase, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), JEL on CD, Journal of Economic Literature, Research Papers in Economics (RePEc), SCOPUS, Social Science Citation Index, Zentralblatt Math

10% b 1.306

4 Applied Economics Letters

ISI (Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Current Contents/Social and Behavioral Sciences, Research Alerts), IBZ (International Bibliography of Periodical Literature), IBSS (International Bibliography of the Social Sciences), Current Index to Statistics, ABI Inform, EBSCO (Business Source Corporate, Business Source Elite, Business Source Premier, Corporate Resource Net, TOC Premier), Economic Literature Database, Journal of Economic Literature (Econlit), Gale Responsive Databases Inc (Business and Management Practices, Business and Industry), OCLC ArticleFirst Database, OCLC FirstSearch Electronic Collections Online, CAB Abstracts and Scopus.

50% b0.531

5 Journal of International Trade and Economic Development

SSCI, Current Contents/Social & Behavioural Sciences, IBZ, IBSS, Econlit, EBSCO (Business Source Corporate, Business Source Premier, TOC Premier) and Scopus

11-20% b 0.807

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Table-1: Continued…

Item Journal Indexing/Abstracting Ranking Acceptance Rate

Impact Factor

Article Citation

Frequency

6 Journal of Socio-Economics Economic Literature Index, Index of Economic Articles, Journals and Collective Volumes, Management Contents, PsycINFO Psychological Abstracts, RePEC

20-25% b 0.383

7 The World Economy

A B I - INFORM (American Business Information) (Mar.1982-); Asian - Pacific Economic Literature; Bibliography of Asian Studies (Online Edition) (1988); British Humanities Index; Business Periodicals Index (Jul.1995-); C A B Abstracts; C S A Political Science & Government (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts); C S A Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts); Current Contents; Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management; GEOBASE; International Bibliography of the Social Sciences; International Political Science Abstracts; Journal of Economic Literature (Mar.1969, 7(1)-)(Mar.1984, 7(1)-); P A I S International in Print (Annual) (Public Affairs Information Service); Risk Abstracts (Online Edition); Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies; SCOPUS; Social Sciences Citation Index; Social Services Abstracts (2001-); Sociological Abstracts; Sugar Industry Abstracts; World Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology Abstracts; World Banking Abstracts (Jul.1993-); World Magazine Bank

1.723

8 Journal of International Development

ABI/Inform Database (ProQuest), AURSI: African Urban & Regional Science Index (AURSI),,CAB Abstracts® (CABI), Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, (CSA/CIG), Environment Abstracts (LexisNexis), Environmental Issues & Policy Index (EBSCO), GeoArchive (Geosystems) , GEOBASE/Geographical & Geological Abstracts (Elsevier), Geotitles (Geosystems), IBR & IBZ: International Bibliographies of Periodical Literature (KG Saur), IBSS: International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (LSE), International Development Abstracts (Elsevier), Journal of Economic Literature/EconLit (AEA), NATCHA: Natural and Cultural Heritage Africa (NISC), PAIS: Public Affairs Information Service (CSA/CIG), SCOPUS (Elsevier), SocINDEX (EBSCO), Sociological Abstracts (CSA/CIG), Studies on Women & Gender Abstracts (T&F), Worldwide Political Sciences Abstracts (CSA/CIG)

11-20% b

9 Tourism Economics Thomson Reuters ISI, Thomson Reuter’s products Current Contents/Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI).

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Table-1: Continued…

Item Journal Indexing/Abstracting Ranking Acceptance Rate

Impact Factor

Article Citation

Frequency

10 Pacific Economic ReviewAmerica: History and Life, Bibliography of Asian Studies (Online Edition) (1971-1991), Current Contents, Current Index to Statistics (Online Edition) , Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management, GEOBASE, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (coverage dropped), Journal of Economic Literature (Mar.1969, 7(1)-)(Jun.1996, 1(1)-), P A I S International in Print (Annual) (Public Affairs Information Service), Risk Abstracts (Online Edition), SCOPUS, Social Sciences Citation Index.

15% a 0.470

11 Agricultural Economics ISI, AGRICOLA, GEOBASE, GeoAbstracts and International Development Abstracts, BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, Research Alert, SCISEARCH, Current Contents, EconLit

102/191 Agricultural Economics & Policy

20-25% b 0.603

12 Journal of Economic Integration NA 21-30% b

13 Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, The African Journals Online, The OSSREA website.

The major African social science journal with a region-wide coverage.

25-30% a

14 Ethiopian Journal of Economics NA15 Romanian Journal of European Studies NA16 Journal of Rural Development NANote: a= Information on the acceptance rate is as provided by the editors. b= Information on acceptance rate is obtained from Cabell’s Directory of Publishing Opportunities in Economics and Finance, 2006. The impact factor of the journals is obtained from: http://ideas.repec.org/top/top.journals.simple.html.

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