Biography

I expect to complete my Ph.D. in Economics under the supervision of Prof. Philippe Martin at the University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne in 2009. I also obtained an M.A. in International Economics in 2005 from this university after my undergraduate studies at the Universities of Frankfurt (Oder) and Hamburg.
In 2008/2009, I was a visiting scholar at the CREST-INSEE, Paris. As a teaching assistant, I have taught several classes at the University of Paris 1 and Sciences Po.
My research interests lie in international trade, economic geography, migration and development economics. In my studies, I focus on the role of the spatial dimension of economic activity in the shaping of international trade and in the evolution of inequalities across and within regions.
One major part of my research is devoted to the empirical validation of different predictions of the New Economic Geography theory on spatial income heterogeneity and factor mobility.
My Ph.D. dissertation explores the effect of economic geography on income inequality within a country and on internal migration. My work contributes to the analysis of growing income inequality in China by evaluating to what extent market proximity can explain spatial income disparities. I also investigate the influence of market proximity on the location choice of migrants in Brazil.
In my current research, I am studying the role of economic geography in the location choice of FDI and the role of product adaptation in international trade.
I have published (or had accepted for publication) several articles on the role of economic geography in China, in the Review of Economics and Statistics, China Economic Review and The World Economy.