Welcome Assistant Professor, Fabian Trottner

Fabian Trottner joined the Department of Economics in July 2020. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University in September 2020, and is a former fellow of the German National Scholarship Foundation.  His primary interests are international economics, macroeconomics, and labor economics. Much of his research combines economic theory with novel data on firms to quantify the effects of international trade on wages, economic growth, and structural change.

Fabian’s current work provides new theory and evidence on a hitherto-neglected path in which international trade affects wage inequality. Although it is well known that firm wage effects are quantitatively relevant for understanding wage inequality, Fabian’s paper begins by showing that these firm wage effects are heterogeneous across occupations within the firm, and hence shape wage inequality both within firms (across occupations) and between firms (within occupations). For firms that expand after a trade liberalization, the return to skills increases causing within firm dispersion of wages to increase. Other work also examines issues at the nexus between international trade and labor markets.

Fabian adds to the international trade group here at UCSD Economics, and will teach international trade and macroeconomics.