A guest speaker will delve into the economic state of China and how this relates to international trade Tuesday.

Trevor Tombe, assistant professor at the University of Calgary, will give a presentation titled “Trade, Migration, and Productivity: A Quantitative Analysis of China.” A large portion of the lecture will focus on how international trade in China correlates to worker migration within the country.

“We know that a great deal of workers — maybe 100 million workers — are moving from interior provinces to the coast,” Tombe said. “We want to know how much of that is due to trade, or maybe how much of the trade flow is due to those worker movements.” 

The other main focus of Tombe’s presentation will be the underlying reason for China’s rapid economic growth.

“A lot of people believe that they are simply trading more than they used to and that is driving economic growth,” Tombe said. “We are also trying to consider domestic reform as well, in particular easing labor mobility restrictions. We are trying to quantify how important that is for China’s growth.”

China’s recent economic growth is an important subject for study due how it relates to the economies of North American countries, said Tombe.

“The movement of workers and how that responds to trade flows is something every country faces,” Tombe said.

Tombe’s lecture will take place at 3p.m. in room 3125 of the Allen Building and is being sponsored by Texas A&M’s Department of Economics.