Last year's winner, Xiao Ma, said: “Winning this award means a lot to me. I am from a coastal city with the largest port in China. It turns out that since joining the WTO, China has become a very important partner in global value chains and my hometown has gained a lot of economic benefits. China's embrace of global trade gives me very good opportunities to observe and explore the importance of trade in my daily life.”

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 12-14 September 2024 at Athens University in Greece. 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).

Professor Ralph Ossa (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

• 2023:  Xiao Ma (Peking University HSBC Business School)
• 2022: Mathilde Muñoz (James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Wealth and Income Inequality, University of California, Berkeley)
• 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 3 June 2024. The Economic Research and Statistics Division of the WTO Secretariat will shortlist eligible papers by 17 June 2024 and the selection panel will take a final decision by 8 July 2024. 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).