Title: Economics of Trade Manipulation: From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Computing Power Era

Speaker: Wang Yongjin, Doctoral Supervisor, School of Economics, Nankai University; Chief Expert of Major Projects of the National Social Science Fund; Young Changjiang Scholar of the Ministry of Education.

Abstract: Technological progress is the fundamental driver of economic globalization. However, reviewing past industrial revolutions, it is easy to find that industrial revolutions are often accompanied by the rise of trade protectionism. If the trade disputes after 2018 are related to digital technology revolution, why did the information technology revolution promote trade liberalization instead? Why does technological progress sometimes lead to globalization and sometimes to trade protectionism? Can we discover a common logic in the alternation of trade protection and free trade in previous industrial revolutions? What is the rationality of trade policy? What is the essential difference between trade policy and other economic policies? This lecture aims to provide a generalized framework for understanding trade manipulation from the perspective of economic rationality, and apply this framework to analyze the evolution of trade policies from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Computing Power Era.

Date & time: 07 May 2026, 10:15

Venue: B321, Zhixin Building, Central Campus, Shandong University