Last year's winners, Tomas Dominguez-Iino of New York University and Swapnika Rachapalli of the University of Toronto, said it was an honour to be selected for the essay award. They expressed hope that their respective findings would enrich trade discussions.

“ hope my work contributes to grounding the research agenda in sustainable development,” Mr Dominguez-Iino said of his paper, which examines how imposing environmental tariffs on agricultural imports from South America could lead to carbon leakage.

Ms Rachapalli, whose paper on how global value chains enable not only the transfer of goods but also knowledge and ideas, said: “I look forward to furthering my understanding on the costs and benefits of international trade.”

Prize

The annual WTO Essay Award provides a prize of CHF 5,000 to the author(s) of the winning essay. In the case of a co-authored paper, the prize will be equally divided among the authors. The winning paper will be officially announced at the annual meeting of the European Trade Study Group (ETSG), the largest conference specializing in international trade. The award ceremony will take place on 8-10 September 2022 at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. The winning author will receive funding to attend the meeting.

Selection

An Academic Selection Panel is responsible for the selection of the winning paper. The panel comprises: 

• Professor Beata Javorcik (University of Oxford)
• Professor Robert Staiger (Dartmouth College)
• Professor Alberto Trejos (INCAE Business School).

Dr Robert Koopman (Director, Economic Research and Statistics Division, WTO Secretariat) is ex officio member of the panel. Dr Roberta Piermartini (Chief, Trade Cost Analysis Section, WTO) coordinates the work of the selection panel.

Eligibility

The paper must address issues related to trade policy and international trade cooperation. The author(s) of the paper must possess or be engaged in the completion of a PhD degree and, if over 30 years of age, be no more than two years past a PhD defense. In the case of co-authored papers, this requirement shall apply to all authors. In addition, to be considered for the award, essays cannot exceed 15,000 words.

More news on the WTO Essay Award is available here.

Past winners

• 2021: Tomas Dominguez-Iino (New York University) and Swapnika Rachapalli (University of Toronto)
• 2020: Xian Ding (Harvard University)
• 2019: Jan Bakker (Oxford University) and Federico Huneeus (Princeton University)
• 2018: Alonso de Gortari (Harvard University)
• 2017: Meredith Startz (Princeton University)
• 2016: Matthieu Bellon (Columbia University)
• 2015: Christoph Boehm (University of Michigan), Aaron Flaaen (Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington D.C.) and Nitya Pandalai-Nayar (University of Michigan)
• 2014: Jonathan Dingel (Columbia University) and Claudia Steinwender (LSE)
• 2013: Felix Tintelnot (Princeton University)
• 2012: Treb Allen (Yale University)
• 2011: Rafael Dix-Carneiro (University of Maryland) and Kyle Handley (Stanford University)
• 2010: Dave Donaldson (MIT) and Olena Ivus (Queen's University)
• 2009: Ralph Ossa (University of Chicago). The runner-up was Mostafa Beshkar (University of New Hampshire)

Deadlines

Essays must be submitted by 6 June 2022. The Economic Research and Statistics Division of the WTO Secretariat will shortlist eligible papers by 17 June 2022 and the selection panel will take a final decision by 15 July 2022. Only the author(s) of short-listed essays will be notified.

Publication

The winning essay may be published in the WTO Working Paper Series. It is the responsibility of the author(s) to endeavour to secure publication of the contribution in a journal.

Submissions

All submissions should be sent to [email protected]. Submissions should include as separate attachments in PDF format:

1. the essay
2. the CV of the author(s), specifying (i) current affiliation(s), (ii) the academic institution awarding the PhD, (iii) the year (or the expected year) of the PhD, (iv) the date of birth of the author(s).