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Barbara Spencer

Barbara J. Spencer

Asia-Pacific Professor in Trade Policy (Emeritus)

B.Economics (ANU), M.Economics (Monash),
Ph.D. 1979 (Tepper School of Business, Carnegie-Mellon)

Office: 412 David Lam Building
Tel: (604) 822-8479
Fax: (604) 822-8477
E-mail: barbara.spencer@sauder.ubc.ca

Mailing Address:
The University of British Columbia
Sauder School of Business
2053 Main Mall
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
V6T 1Z2

Other Positions

  • Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research, 1985-present.
  • President, Canadian Economics Association, 2004-5
  • Senior Fellow, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis, 2007-present
  • Appointed to the Australian National University, Faculty of Economics & Commerce Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame, 2005 – present.

Editorial Boards

  • American Economic Review 1988-1991
  • Journal of International Economics (JIE) 1988-1999
  • Review of International Economics (RIE) 1992-1999
  • International Review of Economics and Finance (IREF) 2005-present
  • Journal of International Business Education (JIBE) 2001- present

Research Interests

  • International Trade Theory and Policy
  • Industrial Organization

Presentation at CWEN lunch, Canadian Economics Association Meetings, May 2002

Media Exposure and Secondary Literature

The Brander & Spencer model of strategic trade policy is featured in:

  • Silvia Nasar (1985), “The New Case for protectionism”, Fortune Magazine, September 16, pp 33 – 38.
  • David Warsh (1989), “The development of ideas: strategic trade policy and competitiveness”, In David Collander and A. W. Coats eds., The Spread of Economic Ideas, Cambridge University Press
  • Irwin, Douglas A. (1996), Against the Tide: An Intellectual History of Free Trade, Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey, pp 207-216
  • Economist Magazine (1996), “How to Beggar Your Neighbour”, Feb. 3, p. 68

Awards and Distinctions

  • Brander and Spencer (1981), “Tariffs and the Extraction of Foreign Monopoly Rent under Potential Entry” was awarded the Harry Johnson Prize for the best article in the Canadian Journal of Economics by the Canadian Economics Association in 1981.
  • Awarded a UBC Killam Research Prize (Senior Competition) in 1990
  • Awarded a Faculty of Commerce Academic Research Prize in 1996
  • Included in Mark Blaug eds. (1999), Who’s Who in Economics (third Edition), Edward Elgar. The book features about 1100 prominent current economics and 500 historical economists since 1700. Living economists are chosen based on citations from 1984-1996.
  • Feenstra, Robert E and Andrew K. Rose (2000), “The Journal of International Economics at 50: A Retrospective”, Journal of International Economics, vol 50 (1), lists Brander and Spencer (1985), “Export Subsidies and International Market Share Rivalry” as the most cited paper in the Journal of International Economics since inception in 1971.
  • Listed in 2001 by the ISI Web of Science as a highly cited researcher on ISIHighlyCited.com based on journal articles from 1981 – 1999
  • Spencer and Brander (1983) was cited in the scientific background paper, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2008), “Trade and Geography – Economics of Scale, Differentiated Products and Transport Costs” for Paul Krugman’s 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics. The paper cites important contributions either leading to or following from the prize-winning work.
  • Inducted as “Fellow of the Canadian Economics Association” Canadian Economic Association Meetings, May 31 2018 Montreal