Our research
Dynamics of globalisation
The IIIS has a strong research focus on the economics and politics of international integration. This includes extensive work on: international macroeconomics, the economic history of globalisation; international finance; and international political economy. In addition researchers in the IIIS contribute to research in the analysis of identity change, comparative human values, public opinion, and governance institutions in Ireland, Europe and globally.
Research on the macroeconomics of financial globalisation is led by Professor of International Macroeconomics Philip R. Lane. The main focal points for this research include the measurement of cross-border financial holdings; the role of international valuation effects in the external adjustment process; the analysis of European monetary union; and the impact of globalisation on Irish macroeconomic policies. In relation to financial globalisation, Professor Lane has collaborated extensively with Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti of the International Monetary Fund in developing and analyzing the External Wealth of Nations dataset that constructs estimates of international investment positions for over 145 countries since. This database iswidely used around the world in research on financial globalisation by academics, policy organisations and the private sector; this work was recently awarded the 2010 Bhagwati Prize by the Journal of International Economics. Lane has also collaborated with Jay Shambaugh of Dartmouth College to generate a parallel database on the currency exposures embedded in cross-border investment positions, which has been published in the March 2010 issue of the American Economic Review. A further cluster of economics staff work on related theoretical and empirical topics in international macroeconomics, while the IIIS also hosts an IRCHSS-funded postdoctoral research fellow Dr Agustin Benetrix in this research area.
Current work on the economic history of globalization focuses on the inter-relationships between trade, trade policy and the Great Depression and is led by Professor Kevin O’Rourke with funding from a significant European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Investigator Grant. This five year research project explore the short run inter-relationships between output and employment, trade, and trade policy during the Great Depression. It will also place the event in the longer run context of the gradual spread of industry from the European and North American core to the European periphery and the rest of the world. The output from the project will include a large-scale online database available to other scholars including primary data from national and international statistical sources, for example the League of Nations. In addition it will include data produced subsequently by economic historians on, inter alia, trade, trade policy, industrial output, and commodity and factor prices, for 1870-1960.
In the area of political economy, the Institute has been host to an international Marie Curie Excellence Team, funded by the European Commission, and lead by Dr. Anne Wren, conducting research on the topic “Political Responses to Economic Change: De-industrialization, Globalization, and Service Sector Development”. The research for this four year project (recently concluded) is focused in two areas: first on the analysis of the political and institutional underpinnings of performance in service based economies, and the implications for different “varieties of capitalism” of the transition to services and the expansion of global service markets; and second on the distributional and political implications of the service transition . Materials and information related to the project are available here.
IIIS Research Associates in the School of Business have been active in developing research on global business systems, including the analysis of global supply chains, international manufacturing strategy and the capacity of new technologies (such as RFID) to enable new forms of cross-border business integration. This has led to the creation of the Centre for Global Business Systems in 2007 (a joint initiative with computer science and engineering). Other research focuses on understanding how current and innovative Information and Communication Technologies are adopted, assimilated and affect Global Networks.
Other research in the School of Business investigates foreign direct investment behaviour including how changes in corporation-tax structures (e.g. the proposed EU Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base) and legal structures (e.g. recent rulings of the European Court of Justice) impact on FDI activity. A related interest is in MNC subsidiary evolution and its role in regional and national development. A further research area explores the changing geographic distribution of production and R&D activities in sectors such as ICT, pharmaceuticals and international financial services.
Research into the sociology of globalisation has addressed two longstanding themes: cosmopolitanisms and the sociology of development and, more recently, migration, through the Trinity Immigration Initiative (TII). The Global Networks cross-disciplinary group (including researchers from Sociology, Drama Studies and History) has investigated how globalisation is fostering new global and transnational networks. It has focused on processes of inter-cultural engagement, conflict and co-operation across boundaries in a range of contemporary and historical settings, as relating to global networking. An emerging research area is the sociology of anti-globalisation and globalisation from below.
IIIS Research Associates in the Law School have identified globalisation and the law as a major research theme. This includes focused research on the impact of globalisation in specific areas of the law: transnational corporations; human rights; families and children; and constitutionalism. The IIIS has also sponsored a multi-disciplinary group ‘The Historical Antecedents of Globalisation’ which brings together historians, economists and legal scholars.
IIIS research on the dynamics of integration also extends to contributions from theatre studies and on the encounter of religions, one of the principal factors in the cultural dynamics of globalisation. The concept and the reality of “integration” are examined from the perspectives of cultural and religious identities. One focus of enquiry is the resistance in the histories of monotheistic religions especially to universalistic principles and to the concrete recognition of the other. The quest for models of mutual understanding is as vital for the social cohesion and vibrancy of pluralist societies, as it is for a process of globalisation that is aware of and committed to the irreplaceable contribution of each culture.