The
UW-Madison Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE) is pleased to announce the winners of our 2008 Individual Research Award competition. WAGE will provide $10,000 to support each of three research projects that explore the consequences of and challenges posed by economic globalization and its governance. Four faculty, Allison Christians (Law), Zhongdang Pan (Communication Arts), Yongming Zhou (Anthropology), and Jason Yackee (Law) will pursue important research respectively on tax norms and global governance, Chinese intellectual property rights, and the impact of international investment law on foreign direct investment.
Allison Christians, Assistant Professor of Law
Tax Norms and Global Governance: A Study of The Emergence and Influence of Transnational Epistemic Communities.
Although traditional conceptions view taxation as an inherently nationalistic subject, much tax policy today is the product of transnational collaboration, especially within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This research project identifies and analyzes the OECD’s network of tax experts as a pivotal epistemic community, which, despite its nonlegal status, defines issues for national decision-makers, frames legal norms to respond to these identified issues and, ultimately, shapes the focus and content of national law.
Zhongdang Pan, Professor of Communication Arts
Yongming Zhou, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Counterfeiting Order: Intellectual Property Rights and Luxury Brand Piracy on a Global Stage
This project aims to move beyond the existing knowledge of the Chinese intellectual property rights (IPR) regime and to obtain a deeper understanding of its multidimensionality by examining 1) the spatial distribution of IPR infringements, including the making, distribution, and consumption of counterfeits on a global stage; 2) the historical, cultural, and socio-economic factors behind the counterfeiting; and 3) the dynamic power relationships among multiple players (transnational, national and individual) that have played major roles in shaping the IPR today.
Jason Yackee, Assistant Professor of Law
International Investment Law and the Foreign Investment Decision-Making Process: the View from the General Counsel's Office
This project examines how multinational corporations use international investment law to reduce the political risks of investing abroad. Professor Yackee will survey a large sample of attorneys working in the general counsels' offices of U.S.-based corporations with overseas operations. The survey will provide one of the first examinations of how the knowledge and advice of in-house legal counsel about international investment law helps to shape the investment decision-making process.
Please note that WAGE anticipates holding annual individual research award competitions for the next few years.
2008 Individual Research Award Announcement - PDF versionIndividual Research Award - Call for Proposals 2008
2005 Individual Research Awards
In 2005 WAGE supported the following projects with individual research awards:
Vietnam: Effects of Globalization and Policy Reforms on Poverty and Economic WelfareIan Coxhead, Agricultural and Applied Economics, Center for Southeast Asian Studies
Globalization and Segmented Labor Markets in Wood and Paper Industries
Marlene A. Lee, Rural Sociology
Legalism, Regionalism, and the Structure of International Institutions
Jon Pevehouse, Political Science
The WTO and India: Private Interests, Public Purpose, and Global Linkages
Aseema Sinha, Political Science
Global Competition and Wisconsin's Manufacturers
Leann M. Tigges, Rural Sociology
