Bio
John Romalis studies international economics and macroeconomics. Romalis has published well-known papers on the determinants of international trade, and on the economic effects of tax and trade policy in journals such as the American Economic Review, the Review of Economics and Statistics, and the Journal of the European Economic Association. Romalis has three main current lines of research. He studies how rising income inequality in the United States has been partly offset by low- and middle-income households experiencing a lower inflation rate for many of the products they purchase. This research is being extended to identify the causes of this lower inflation rate, such as rising international trade with developing countries. A second line of research studies the causes of the collapse of international trade during the recent global recession. Finally, Romalis studies how firms engaged in international competition determine the quality and price of their products.
After completing degrees in economics and in law, Romalis worked negotiating contracts governing swaps and other derivatives for a commercial bank, and then moved to the economics research department in Australia’s central bank. After completing his PhD in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he joined the University of Chicago Booth faculty in 2001. In 2013 he moved to The University of Sydney. John Romalis has also served as a Resident Scholar for the International Monetary Fund, has been a Faculty Research Fellow for the National Bureau of Economic Research, and had appointments at Princeton University and Australian National University.