Areas of expertise
International economics • Trade and manufacturing policies • Global finance • Foreign investment and “insourcing” • Industry studies
Biography
Robert E. Scott joined the Economic Policy Institute in 1997 and is currently director of trade and manufacturing policy research. His areas of research include international economics, the impacts of trade and manufacturing policies on working people in the United States and other countries, the economic impacts of foreign investment, and the macroeconomic effects of trade and capital flows and exchange rates. He has published widely in academic journals and the popular press, including in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, the International Review of Applied Economics, and the Stanford Law and Policy Review, the Detroit News, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, USA Today, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Times, The Hill, and other newspapers. He has also provided economic commentary for a range of electronic media, including NPR, CNN, Bloomberg, and the BBC. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley.
Highlighted work
- Elizabeth Warren’s Radical Plan to Fix the Dollar • The New York Times • June 16, 2019
- GM cutbacks a result of overvalued dollar • The Detroit News • December 1, 2018
- How Trump Should Address Unfair Trade With China • New York Times • October 23, 2018
- Don’t Sweat Trump’s Tariffs • U.S. News & World Report • March 5, 2018
Education
Ph.D., Economics, University of California at Berkeley
B.S., Engineering, Washington University (St. Louis)
By Content:
By Area of Research:
By Type:
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U.S. trade deficits hit record highs in 2021: More effective trade, industrial, and currency policies are needed to create more domestic manufacturing jobs
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Botched policy responses to globalization have decimated manufacturing employment with often overlooked costs for Black, Brown, and other workers of color: Investing in infrastructure and rebalancing trade can create good jobs for all
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Tariff increases did not cause inflation, and their removal would undermine domestic supply chains
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Aluminum producing and consuming industries have thrived under U.S. Section 232 import measures
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Why Global Steel Surpluses Warrant U.S. Section 232 Import Measures
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U.S. trade deficit hits record high in 2020: The Biden administration must prioritize rebuilding domestic manufacturing
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Memorandum on U.S. trade and manufacturing policy
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Rebuilding American manufacturing—potential job gains by state and industry: Analysis of trade, infrastructure, and clean energy/energy efficiency proposals
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We can reshore manufacturing jobs, but Trump hasn’t done it: Trade rebalancing, infrastructure, and climate investments could create 17 million good jobs and rebuild the American economy
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Why is Trump putting critical protective equipment on layaway at Walmart?
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Nurses in garbage bags?: Why the Trump administration must use the Defense Production Act to mobilize production of critically needed hospital protective equipment immediately
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Declining trade balances disguise continued growth in the non-oil trade deficit
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Trump’s ‘blue-collar boom’ is likely a dud
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Wilbur Ross’s comments and Trump administration trade policies offer few answers for growing, job-destroying China trade deficit
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Growing China trade deficit cost 3.7 million American jobs between 2001 and 2018: Jobs lost in every U.S. state and congressional district
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China trade deal will not restore 3.7 million U.S. jobs lost since China entered the WTO in 2001
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News from EPI › U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement—Weak tea, at best
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Comments on proposed modification of regulations regarding benefit and specificity in countervailing duty proceedings concerning currency undervaluation
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What’s good for Wall Street is often bad for American workers and manufacturing: The overvalued dollar
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Trump’s China tariff confusion: It won’t solve chronic trade deficits
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Now you see them, now you don’t: Vanishing benefits for U.S. workers in NAFTA-2 (USMCA) deal
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And if you believe this, I’ve got a great deal to sell you: The economic impacts of the revised NAFTA (USMCA) Agreement
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Record U.S. trade deficit in 2018 reflects failure of Trump’s trade policies
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The state of American manufacturing: The failure of Trump’s trade and economic policies
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The failure of Trump’s trade and manufacturing policy
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Aluminum tariffs have led to a strong recovery in employment, production, and investment in primary aluminum and downstream industries
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The China toll deepens: Growth in the bilateral trade deficit between 2001 and 2017 cost 3.4 million U.S. jobs, with losses in every state and congressional district
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Economist discusses the top unresolved issues in NAFTA talks
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Steel and Aluminum Tariffs
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Estimates of jobs lost and economic harm done by steel and aluminum tariffs are wildly exaggerated