2024 – 2025 Chair
In 2023-2024 the Ganshof van der Meersch Chair was held by Meredith Crowley, Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge, Fellow of St John’s College and a Research Coordinator at the Janeway Institute at Cambridge.
Professor Crowley is a co-investigator of the publicly-funded Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy, a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR – London), and a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of CEPII and the Kiel Institute. Her research on international trade, multinational trade agreements, and trade policy has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, and she frequently appears in the media. Prior to arriving at Cambridge in 2013, Crowley worked in the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. She has held visiting positions at Georgetown University, the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and Nanjing University. Her research has been presented at central banks and international institutions around the world, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. Crowley received bachelor’s degrees in Asian studies and chemistry from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, a master of public policy degree in international trade and finance from Harvard University, and master’s and doctorate degrees in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Professor Crowley was welcomed at the ULB by Professors Chloé Brière (Director of the Institute for European Studies) and Glenn Margerman (ECARES – European Center for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics). As part of the Chair, she delivered a public lecture titled on “The uncertain future of economic integration for Europe and the world” on 27 March 2025.
Abstract of the lecture
Since 2010, trade integration around the globe has stalled, with the global trade to GDP ratio hovering around 30 percent. Over the last fifteen years, the world has witnessed Britain’s exit from the EU, the US-China Trade War, and major trade sanctions against Russia. This lecture will evaluate the welfare impacts of market fragmentation due to Brexit and the US-China Trade War, drawing lessons from these events for the European market integration project. It will explore the looming challenges for European internal market integration and Europe’s integration with the world.
