Isabela Manelici
Welcome to my website! I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics of the London School of Economics and Political Science. I was awarded a 2025-2030 ERC Starting Grant for “LINK4DEV: Can Multinational Linkages Be Leveraged for Development?”.
I am affiliated with the CEP (Centre for Economic Performance, Trade and Urban), CEPR (International Trade and Regional Economics), CESifo (Global Economy Area), IGC (International Growth Center), POID (Programme on Innovation and Diffusion), RFBerlin (ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin), and STICERD (Suntory & Toyota International Centres for Economics).
Curriculum Vitae and Google Scholar.
Focus: International Economics, Economic Development, Firm Organisation.
Email: i.manelici@lse.ac.uk
Note on Ph.D. admissions, RA and postdoc opportunities: link.
RESEARCH
Working Papers
Responsible Sourcing? Evidence from Costa Rica (link). NBER WP 30683
with Alonso Alfaro-Ureña, Benjamin Faber, Cecile Gaubert, and José P. Vasquez
Status: Second round Revise-and-Resubmit at the American Economic Review
Trade Talks podcast episode (39 mins), VoxDev summary, VoxEU summary
The Gains from Foreign Multinationals in an Economy with Distortions
with Mauricio Ulate, José P. Vasquez and Román David Zárate
Status: Draft available upon request
The Effects of Multinationals on Workers: Evidence from Costa Rican Microdata (link)
with Alonso Alfaro-Ureña and José P. Vasquez
Status: New draft in progress
ReVista (Harvard Review of Latin America) article
Peer-reviewed publications
The Effects of Joining Multinational Supply Chains: New Evidence from Firm-to-Firm Linkages
with Alonso Alfaro-Ureña and José P. Vasquez
Quarterly Journal of Economics, 137(3), August 2022, 1495–1552. Working paper w/ online appendix (PDF)
Media: VoxDev, IGC, The Visible Hand podcast, Faculti interview, LSE Business Review
Industrial Policy at Work: Evidence from Romania's Income Tax Break for Workers in IT
with Smaranda Pantea
European Economic Review, 133, April 2021. Working paper (PDF), Online Appendix (PDF)
Media: Trade Talks, VoxEU, Presentation recording
Terrorism and the Value of Proximity to Public Transportation: Evidence from the London Bombings
Journal of Urban Economics, 102, November 2017, 52–75. Working paper (PDF)
Other publications
London Consensus response to Ricardo Hausmann's chapter on "Export-Led Growth"
London Consensus, Economic Principles for the 21st Century. Edited by Tim Besley, Irene Bucelli and Andrés Velasco. LSE Press, October 2025
VoxDevLit on "International Trade"
with Atkin, Boudreau, Dix-Carneiro, Khandelwal, McCaig, Medina, Morjaria, Pascali, Pellegrina, Rijkers, and Startz
VoxDevLit, 4(2), February 2025
VoxDevLit on "Foreign Direct Investment and Development"
with Alviarez, Boudreau, Dardati, Fan, Farrokhi, Garcia-Lembergman, Garetto, Gu, Hale, Hemous, Limodio, Martin, Morales, Pandalai-Nayar, Pavcnik, Pellegrina, Ramondo, Vasquez, and Vezina
VoxDevLit, 13(1), February 2025
2024 WTO Trade Report on "Trade and Inclusiveness"
Opinion Piece on "The Promise and Pitfalls of Responsible Sourcing in Global Value Chains", page 133 (with Alfaro-Ureña, Faber, Gaubert, and Vasquez)