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Dr Swati Dhingra

Dr Swati Dhingra

Associate

Expertise: international trade, industrial development, trade policy, brexit

Telephone:
0207 955 7804
Email:
s.dhingra@lse.ac.uk
Connect:
Website
Links:
CEP Trade
Department of Economics

Biography

Swati Dhingra is an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics at LSE. Before joining LSE, she completed a PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a fellow at Princeton University. Her research interests are international economics, globalization and industrial policy.

Dr Swati Dhingra's current areas of research are:

  • The impact of trade agreements
  • Firms in international trade
  • Industrial development in India

Publications

External publications
The UK's decisive decade: the launch report for The Economy 2030 Inquiry

This report marks the launch of The Economy 2030 Inquiry, a landmark collaboration between the Resolution Foundation and the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics, funded by the Nuffield Found... Read more...

Torsten Bell, Swati Dhingra, Stephen Machin, Charlie McCurdy, Henry G. Overman, Gregory Thwaites, Daniel Tomlinson and Anna Valero

18 May 2021

Blog
The 2020s will be a crunch decade that will determine the UK's trajectory into the mid-21st century

As vaccines roll out and restrictions are lifted, public debate is turning to the economic recovery from Covid-19 and the deepest annual downturn for 300 years that came in its wake. But viewing the years ahead simply as... Read more...

Torsten Bell, Swati Dhingra, Stephen Machin, Charlie McCurdy, Henry G. Overman, Gregory Thwaites, Daniel Tomlinson and Anna Valero

18 May 2021

CEP Covid-19 analyses
The impacts of Covid-19 and Brexit on the UK economy: early evidence in 2021

We use real-time firm survey data to describe trends in the UK economy in early 2021. As of April 2021, business activity and expectations for the future have improved. However, real wage growth is down and firms are rep... Read more...

Josh De Lyon and Swati Dhingra

06 May 2021

Blog
To recover from Covid and Brexit, the UK must upskill its workforce

The twin forces of Covid-19 and Brexit are altering the skills that people require to succeed in work. Skill levels remain low in the UK, compared to other advanced nations. About 30% of adults have low skill levels in l... Read more...

Josh De Lyon and Swati Dhingra

23 February 2021

Blog
The trade and welfare benefits of deep trade agreements

Deep trade agreements are widespread and have taken the world beyond tariff liberalisation in goods trade. As the importance of global supply chains and the services sector increased across the world, shallow tariff redu... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Rebecca Freeman and Hanwei Huang

21 January 2021

CEP discussion papers
The impact of non-tariff barriers on trade and welfare

Deep trade agreements are widespread and have taken the world beyond tariff liberalization in goods trade. As the importance of global supply chains and the services sector increased across the world, shallow tariff redu... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Rebecca Freeman and Hanwei Huang

12 January 2021

Blog
COVID-19 has disrupted businesses' ability to prepare for Brexit, but the lack of clarity on the UK-EU relationship is worse

Almost half of businesses report that COVID-19 has negatively affected their ability to prepare for Brexit. More than half listed uncertainty on the future arrangements between the UK and EU as a limitation on their abil... Read more...

Josh De Lyon, Swati Dhingra and Edoardo Tolva

07 December 2020

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance
In brief... City of dreams no more: Covid-19 in urban India

The pandemic has decimated livelihoods in urban India and created a new underclass of workers who are being pushed into poverty. A CEP report by Shania Bhalotia, Swati Dhingra and Fjolla Kondirolli calls for a national w... Read more...

Shania Bhalotia, Swati Dhingra and Fjolla Kondirolli

02 November 2020

CEP discussion papers
The crisis and job guarantees in urban India

This paper uses a new field survey of low-wage areas of urban India to show that employment and earnings were decimated by the lockdown resulting from the Covid-19 crisis. It examines workers’ desire for a job guarantee ... Read more...

Swati Dhingra and Stephen Machin

30 September 2020

Blog
City of dreams no more: COVID-19 in urban India

COVID-19 has decimated livelihoods in urban India and created a new underclass of workers who are being pushed into poverty. Shania Bhalotia, Swati Dhingra and Fjolla Kondirolli (LSE) say a national work guarantee is nee... Read more...

Shania Bhalotia, Swati Dhingra and Fjolla Kondirolli

11 September 2020

CEP Covid-19 analyses
City of dreams no more: the impact of Covid-19 on urban workers in India

Many developing economies have large informal sectors and growing urban youth populations, who lack basic social protections at work. The CEP surveyed 8,500 workers aged 18 to 40 in urban India to understand their experi... Read more...

Shania Bhalotia, Swati Dhingra and Fjolla Kondirolli

01 September 2020

CEP Covid-19 analyses
Covid-19 and Brexit: Real-time updates on business performance in the United Kingdom

Nearly four months have passed since the UK went into lockdown to restrict the spread of Covid-19. The health effects have been severe, and an inevitable consequence of the lockdown was a huge 20 per cent decline in GDP ... Read more...

Josh De Lyon and Swati Dhingra

29 July 2020

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance
Covid-19 and Brexit: contrasting sectoral effects

Josh De Lyon and Swati Dhingra show that the UK sectors suffering less during lockdown are those most exposed to damage from leaving the European Union.... Read more...

Josh De Lyon and Swati Dhingra

15 July 2020

Blog
Parts of the economy less hit by the pandemic are exposed to bigger negative impacts from Brexit

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK has been continuing its preparations to leave the EU by the end of 2020. COVID-19 has had a huge negative impact on the UK economy and Brexit will present another profound change in ... Read more...

Josh De Lyon and Swati Dhingra

23 June 2020

Blog
How is Covid-19 affecting businesses in the UK?

The Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown have highlighted the need for real-time data to understand the spread of the disease, identify vulnerable groups and design policies to mitigate the health and economic fallout of the c... Read more...

Josh De Lyon and Swati Dhingra

07 May 2020

CEP discussion papers
The rise of agribusiness and the distributional consequences of policies on intermediated trade

Policies to encourage agribusinesses-led development of crop markets are high on the agenda of many policy-makers. Since the 1980s, several countries have moved to a model in which agribusinesses provide market access to... Read more...

Swati Dhingra and Silvana Tenreyro

06 February 2020

Blog
Three years on: the UK is paying a high economic price for its decision to leave the EU

How has the Leave vote affected the UK economy, ask Swati Dhingra and Thomas Sampson (LSE) in this second of two blogs based on the CEP Election Analysis briefing on Brexit. It summarizes CEP research on how the referend... Read more...

Swati Dhingra and Thomas Sampson

02 December 2019

Blog
Brexit will leave the UK worse off economically in all scenarios

Since the UK voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, Brexit has dominated UK politics and economic policy. Three and a half years after the referendum, the UK is yet to leave the EU, there is no certainty over if... Read more...

Swati Dhingra and Thomas Sampson

30 November 2019

Blog
Economic consequences of Brexit are overwhelmingly negative

The economic consequences of Brexit are overwhelmingly negative, estimate Swati Dhingra and Thomas Sampson (LSE). The more the UK distances itself from the EU’s economic institutions and policies, the greater will be the... Read more...

Swati Dhingra and Thomas Sampson

26 November 2019

CEP election analysis papers
Brexit economics

Since the UK voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, Brexit has dominated UK politics and economic policy. Three and a half years after the referendum, the UK is yet to leave the EU, there is no certainty over if... Read more...

Swati Dhingra and Thomas Sampson

25 November 2019

Blog
New dawn fades: The post-referendum rise in import costs has hurt UK workers

Some commentators argue that globalisation is systematically connected to the real-wage and productivity stagnation seen across the developed world. This column analyses the relationship between international trade and w... Read more...

Rui Costa, Swati Dhingra and Stephen Machin

01 October 2019

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance
Trade and deskilling: how the post-referendum sterling depreciation hurt workers

The unexpected result of the Brexit referendum, working through the rapid depreciation of sterling, had a sizable negative impact on UK workers. New CEP work by Rui Costa, Swati Dhingra and Stephen Machin shows that the ... Read more...

Rui Costa, Swati Dhingra and Stephen Machin

01 July 2019

CEP discussion papers
Trade and worker deskilling

This paper presents new evidence on international trade and worker outcomes. It examines a big world event that produced an unprecedentedly large shock to the UK exchange rate. In the 24 hours in June 2016 during which t... Read more...

Rui Costa, Swati Dhingra and Stephen Machin

29 May 2019

CEP Brexit analysis Papers
Trade and worker deskilling: how the post-Brexit pound has hurt Britain’s workers

The unexpected result of the Brexit referendum, working through the rapid depreciation of the sterling, has hurt British workers. New CEP work shows that the big drop in the value of the pound caused a rise in import pri... Read more...

Rui Costa, Swati Dhingra and Stephen Machin

29 May 2019

CEP discussion papers
The comparative advantage of firms

Multiproduct firms dominate production, and their product turnover contributes substantially to aggregate growth. Theories propose that multiproduct firms grow by diversifying into products which need the same know-how o... Read more...

Johannes Boehm, Swati Dhingra and John Morrow

17 April 2019

CEP Brexit analysis Papers
Economic performance since the EU referendum

The impact of the Brexit vote can now begin to be evaluated with greater accuracy than previous forecasts, thanks to the emergence of new data. In the run-up to the UK’s referendum on membership of the European Union (EU... Read more...

Josh De Lyon and Swati Dhingra

21 March 2019

Journal article
The impact of trade agreements on consumerwelfare-evidence from the EU common external trade policy

This paper estimates the consumer welfare impact of the new generation of trade agreements implemented by the European Union between 1993 and 2013. We decompose the overall effect into contributions of changes in prices,... Read more...

Giuseppe Berlingieri, Holger Breinlich and Swati Dhingra

01 December 2018

CEP industrial strategy
Local Economic Effects of Brexit: Factsheet

Read more...

Nikhil Datta and Swati Dhingra

01 October 2018

CEP discussion papers
Firm-to-firm connections in Colombian imports

The vast majority of world trade flows is between firms. Only recently has research in international trade started to emphasize the importance of the connections between exporters and importers both in aggregate trade fl... Read more...

Andrew B. Bernard, Esther Ann Bøler and Swati Dhingra

30 April 2018

CEP discussion papers
Beyond tariff reductions: what extra boost from trade agreement provisions?

There is a growing recognition that for developed economies, like the UK, tariff-free market access is just one of a number of measures that ease cross-border trade flows. Modern trade agreements go beyond tariff reducti... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Rebecca Freeman and Eleonora Mavroeidi

13 March 2018

Journal article
UK trade and FDI: A post-Brexit perspective

Leaving the EU will reshape the UK's economic relations with the rest of the world. This paper summarizes the findings of recent research studying the UK's role in the global economy, and the consequences of Brexit for U... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Veronica Rappoport, Thomas Sampson and Catherine Thomas

01 March 2018

CEP discussion papers
Product diversification in Indian manufacturing

The presence of global value chains challenges the neoclassical idea of the firm since it implies firms are not monolithic but are rather interdependent on the larger economic environment. Examining establishments, the s... Read more...

Johannes Boehm, Swati Dhingra and John Morrow

08 November 2017

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance
In brief ... Brexit: the impact on prices

Following last year’s referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, there has been a significant rise in consumer prices, particularly food prices. Rising prices coupled with limited increases in nominal wages... Read more...

Josh De Lyon, Swati Dhingra and Stephen Machin

01 November 2017

Journal article
Local economic effects of Brexit

This paper studies local economic impacts of the increases in trade barriers associated with Brexit. Predictions of the local impact of Brexit are presented under two different scenarios, soft and hard Brexit, which are ... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Stephen Machin and Henry G. Overman

31 October 2017

CEP discussion papers
Efficiency in large markets with firm heterogeneity

Abstract Empirical work has drawn attention to the high degree of productivity differences within industries, and its role in resource allocation. In a benchmark monopolistically competitive economy, productivity differe... Read more...

Swati Dhingra and John Morrow

12 October 2017

Journal article
The costs and benefits of leaving the EU: trade effects

This paper estimates the welfare effects of Brexit in the medium to long run, focusing on trade and fiscal transfers.We use a standard quantitative general equilibrium trade model with many countries and sectors and trad... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Hanwei Huang, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Joao Paulo Pessoa, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen

01 October 2017

CEP Brexit analysis Papers
The local economic effects of Brexit

This paper studies the local impacts of the increases in trade barriers associated with Brexit. Predictions of the local impact of Brexit are presented under two different scenarios, soft and hard Brexit. Average effects... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Stephen Machin and Henry G. Overman

26 July 2017

CEP discussion papers
UK trade and FDI: a post-Brexit perspective

Leaving the EU will change the UK’s economic relations with the rest of the world. This paper discusses the UK’s role in the global economy and the consequences of Brexit for the UK’s trade, investment and living standar... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Veronica Rappoport, Thomas Sampson and Catherine Thomas

22 June 2017

CEP election analysis papers
Brexit and the UK Economy

This general election is pitched as the ‘Brexit Election’, one that will give the incoming government a mandate to negotiate the terms of the UK’s exit from the European Union (EU). The Conservatives and Labour have both... Read more...

Swati Dhingra and Thomas Sampson

31 May 2017

CEP discussion papers
The costs and benefits of leaving the EU: trade effects

This paper estimates the welfare effects of Brexit, focusing on trade and fiscal transfers. We use a standard quantitative general equilibrium trade model with many countries and sectors and trade in intermediates, as in... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Hanwei Huang, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Joao Paulo Pessoa, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen

21 April 2017

Journal article
A hitch-hiker's guide to post-Brexit trade negotiations: Options and principles

Brexit will require the UK to negotiate new trade arrangements with the EU. After summarizing the main options for future UK-EU trade relations, this article reviews the purpose of trade agreements. We highlight that tra... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano and Thomas Sampson

01 March 2017

Blog
Foreign investors love Britain – but Brexit would end the affair

Foreign investment brings many benefits to the UK, including higher pay and productivity. But a Brexit vote could end it all, write Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco Ottaviano, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen. First, not being... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen

22 June 2016

CEP Brexit analysis Papers
BREXIT 2016: policy analysis from the Centre for Economic Performance

On June 23rd, the British people will vote in a referendum over whether or not to remain in the European Union. It is the most important vote that most of us will have in our lifetimes. And one that will have major reper... Read more...

Holger Breinlich, Swati Dhingra, Saul Estrin, Hanwei Huang, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Thomas Sampson, John Van Reenen and Jonathan Wadsworth

21 June 2016

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance
Why immigration is no reason to leave the EU

A major argument of Brexit campaigners is that leaving the European Union would give the UK more control over the flow of immigrants, who they claim hurt the jobs and pay of native-born workers. CEP research shows that E... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, John Van Reenen and Jonathan Wadsworth

09 June 2016

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance
Brexit: the impact on UK trade and living standards

For over two years, a CEP research team has been studying the likely impact on the living standards of UK households of a referendum vote to leave the European Union. The first of three reports summarised here focuses on... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen

09 June 2016

CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance
Foreign investors love Britain - but Brexit would end the affair

Investment from overseas brings many benefits to the UK economy, including higher pay and productivity. According to CEP research, leaving the European Union could lead to a fall in inward foreign direct investment in th... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen

09 June 2016

Blog
No one would be spared: how the costs of Brexit would be distributed across households

That leaving the EU would damage the overall economy is now being treated as more of a fact than a speculation. But those for Brexit argue that the rich will be negatively affected while the poor will benefit. This is no... Read more...

Holger Breinlich, Swati Dhingra, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen

03 June 2016

CEP Brexit analysis Papers
Who bears the pain? How the costs of Brexit would be distributed across income groups

Read more...

Holger Breinlich, Swati Dhingra, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen

02 June 2016

Blog
The ‘Britain Alone’ scenario: how Economists for Brexit defy the laws of gravity

There is a degree of consensus among economists that a Brexit will make us worse off. The exception is recent work by Economists for Brexit. Their forecast of income gains from Brexit contrasts with all other economic an... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen

02 June 2016

Blog
The ‘Britain Alone’ scenario: how Economists for Brexit defy the laws of gravity

There is a degree of consensus among economists that a Brexit will make us worse off. The exception is recent work by Economists for Brexit. Their forecast of income gains from Brexit contrasts with all other economic an... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen

30 May 2016

CEP Brexit analysis Papers
‘ECONOMISTS FOR BREXIT’: A critique

Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen

27 May 2016

CEP Brexit analysis Papers
Brexit and the impact of immigration on the UK

A reduction in immigration from the European Union (EU) following a vote for Brexit would not lead to any improvement in living standards for those born in the UK. Cuts in EU immigration would not offset the big fall in ... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, John Van Reenen and Jonathan Wadsworth

11 May 2016

CEP Brexit analysis Papers
The UK Treasury analysis of 'The long-term economic impact of EU membership and the alternatives': CEP Commentary

Overly cautious assumptions in the Treasury’s recent report on the long-run consequences for the UK economy of leaving the European Union (EU) mean that it has probably underestimated the economic costs. That is one of t... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen

21 April 2016

CEP Brexit analysis Papers
The impact of Brexit on foreign investment in the UK

The third in a series of Brexit reports from the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), examines how leaving the EU would affect UK incomes through changes in foreign investment in the UK. Leaving the European Union (EU)... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen

15 April 2016

Blog
The question is not whether Brexit will cost the UK in economic terms but how much

For over two years, a research team at the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) has been studying the likely impact of the UK leaving the European Union. Their latest report focuses on the impact of ‘Brexit’ through cha... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen

21 March 2016

CEP Brexit analysis Papers
The consequences of Brexit for UK trade and living standards

The economic consequences of leaving the EU will depend on what policies the UK adopts following Brexit. But lower trade due to reduced integration with EU countries is likely to cost the UK economy far more than is gain... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Thomas Sampson and John Van Reenen

18 March 2016

CEP discussion papers
How have EU's trade agreements impacted consumers?

Over the past two decades, the European Commission has negotiated a number of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) which contain both traditional elements of bilateral tariff reductions, as well as additional liberalisation meas... Read more...

Holger Breinlich, Swati Dhingra and Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano

16 March 2016

CEP discussion papers
Swimming upstream: input-output linkages and the direction of product adoption

Multiproduct firms dominate production, and their product turnover contributes substantially to aggregate growth. Firms continually adapt their product mix, but what determines which products firms expand into? Theories ... Read more...

Johannes Boehm, Swati Dhingra and John Morrow

22 February 2016

CEP Brexit analysis Papers
Life after Brexit : what are the UK’s options outside the European Union?

Suppose the UK votes to leave the European Union (EU): what happens next? This report outlines some of the options for the UK outside the EU and discusses the costs and benefits of each alternative.... Read more...

Swati Dhingra and Thomas Sampson

12 February 2016

CEP discussion papers
Contracting and the division of the gains from trade

This paper examines the microstructure of import markets and the division of the gains from trade among consumers, importers and exporters. When exporters and importers transact through anonymous markets, double marginal... Read more...

Andrew B. Bernard and Swati Dhingra

29 October 2015

CEP election analysis papers
#ElectionEconomics: The Research Evidence on Key Issues for Voters in the 2015 UK General Election

Please see the CEP #ElectionEconomics report(Paper 1)and the Executive Summary (Paper 2) that cover all the election 2015 briefings, discussing the research evidence on 15 of the UK's key policy battlegrounds: immigratio... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Brian Bell, Jonathan Colmer, Antoine Dechezleprêtre, Swati Dhingra, Christian A. L. Hilber, Stephen Machin, Alan Manning, Ralf Martin, Alistair McGuire, Sandra McNally, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Henry G. Overman, Isabelle Roland, Thomas Sampson, Anna Valero, John Van Reenen, Jonathan Wadsworth, Gill Wyness and Gabriel Zucman

30 April 2015

CEP election analysis papers
Should We Stay or Should We Go? The economic consequences of leaving the EU

We analyze the effects of Brexit on the UK economy. The most important economic consequence of Brexit would likely be reduced trade with EU countries. We consider an optimistic scenario with relatively small increases in... Read more...

Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano and Thomas Sampson

23 March 2015

CEP discussion papers
Reconciling Observed Tariffs and the Median Voter Model

Median voter theory applied to trade policy predicts positive tariffs in capital-abundant countries and negative tariffs in labor-abundant countries. Negative tariffs are rare, and this paper reconciles the median voter ... Read more...

Swati Dhingra

15 July 2014

CEP discussion papers
The Impact of Integration on Productivity and Welfare Distortions Under Monopolistic Competition

A fundamental question in monopolistic competition theory is whether the market allocates resources efficiently. This paper generalizes the Spence-Dixit-Stiglitz framework to heterogeneous firms, addressing when the mark... Read more...

Swati Dhingra and John Morrow

29 February 2012

CEP discussion papers
Trading Away Wide Brands for Cheap Brands

Firms face competing needs to expand product variety and reduce production costs. Trade policy affects firm investments in product variety and production processes differently. Access to larger markets enables innovation... Read more...

Swati Dhingra

09 December 2011

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