Recalbirating Global Economic Relations
Working group on the United States, China and India
In partnership with
Overview
The Recalibrating Global Economic Relations project explores how the world’s three largest economies—the United States, China, and India—can reshape international economic governance in an era of heightened geopolitical tension, rising protectionism, and urgent climate imperatives.
Led by William Milberg, Professor of Economics and Director of the Robert L. Heilbroner Center for Capitalism Studies, and Mark Frazier, Professor of Politics and Co-Director of the India-China Institute, the initiative brings together leading scholars and policymakers to develop fresh approaches to trade, industrial policy, global finance, and sustainable growth.
Objectives
- Rebalance Global Relations: Examine how the US, China, and India can recalibrate trade, investment, and industrial development to reduce inequality and global imbalances.
- Advance Cooperation: Explore pathways for collaboration on supply chain resilience, green technology transitions, and growth in the Global South.
- Develop Policy Options: Produce actionable recommendations that move beyond nationalism, protectionism, and outdated global institutions.
- Foster Dialogue: Create a network of scholars committed to advancing inclusive, sustainable approaches to global governance.
Activities
- Working Group Meetings: Convenings over two years, beginning at The New School and extending to international venues.
- Commissioned Research Papers: In-depth studies on macroeconomic adjustment, industrial policy, supply chains, and climate change mitigation.
- Policy Brief: A widely circulated publication drawing on Working Group deliberations to inform policymakers, academics, and the public.
- Graduate Engagement: Opportunities for New School students to contribute as research assistants, gaining direct experience in global economic policy debates.
Contributors
The Working Group includes the following internationally recognized scholars:
- Rina Agarwala (Johns Hopkins University)
- Kyle Chan (Princeton University)
- Ho-Fung Hung (Johns Hopkins University)
- Khalid Nadvi (University of Manchester)
- Dev Nathan (Institute for Human Development, India)
- Rahul S (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India)
- Margaret Pearson (University of Maryland)
- Yeling Tan (University of Oxford)
- Ka Zeng (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
- William Milberg (The New School)
- Jan Kregel
- Mark Frazier (The New School)
Outcomes
The project will generate new research, cultivate international collaboration, and provide fresh ideas for policymakers. Its ultimate aim is to contribute to a more stable, equitable, and sustainable global economic order.
meet the team
William Milberg
Co-Principal Investigator
William Milberg is Arnhold Professor of International Cooperation and Development at the New School for Social Research. His research focuses on the relation between globalization and income distribution, and the history and philosophy of economics. He has written extensively on global value chains and their implications for economic development, financialization and intellectual property. His recent work focuses on the economic causes and consequences of the multinational retreat from liberal democracy, including an edited an issue of Social Research and a book published by The New Institute. His current book project is on the relation between globalization and sports. Milberg has worked as a consultant to the UNDP, the ILO, the UNCTAD and the World Bank. He is the author of Outsourcing Economics: Global Value Chains in Capitalist Development (with Deborah Winkler). Two previous books, The Crisis of Vision in Modern Economic Thought and The Making of Economic Society were co-authored with the late Robert Heilbroner. He serves on the editorial boards of Politics & Society, The Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, The International Review of Applied Economics and is on the Advisory Board of Socio-Economic Review. Milberg served as Dean of the New School for Social Research from 2013-2023.
Mark Frazier
Co-Principal Investigator
Mark W. Frazier is Professor of Politics at The New School, where he also serves as Co-Director of the India China Institute. His research interests focus on labor and social policy in China, and more recently on political conflict over urbanization, migration, and citizenship in China and India. His latest book, The Power of Place: Contentious Politics in Twentieth Century Shanghai and Bombay (Cambridge University Press, 2019), examines long-term changes in political geographies and patterns of popular protest in the two cities. He is also the author of Socialist Insecurity: Pensions and the Politics of Uneven Development in China (Cornell University Press, 2010), The Making of the Chinese Industrial Workplace (Cambridge University Press, 2002), and Co-Editor of the SAGE Handbook of Contemporary China (2018). He has authored op-ed pieces and essays for The New York Times, Daedalus, and The Diplomat.
Mauricio Vargas Sosa
NSSR Research Assistant
Mauricio Vargas-Sosa is a PhD student in Politics at The New School for Social Research. His research explores the intersections of poverty and shifting hegemonies in contemporary global politics. He has previously served as a Research Assistant at the International Rescue Committee and is an alumnus of the United Nations Summer School.
Rina Agarwala is Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. Rina publishes and lectures on international development, labor, migration, gender, social movements, and Indian politics. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, She worked at the United Nations Development Program in China, the Self-Employed Women’s Association in India, and Women’s World Banking in New York. She holds a BA in Economics and Government from Cornell University, an MPP in Political and Economic Development from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a PhD. in Sociology and Demography from Princeton University.
Kyle Chan is a Postdoctoral Research Associate and Lecturer in Sociology at Princeton University, affiliated with the Paul and Marcia Wythes Center on Contemporary China and the M. S. Chadha Center for Global India, and an adjunct researcher at the RAND Corporation. His research examines industrial policy, clean technology, and infrastructure in China and India, and his work has appeared in journals such as Current Sociology, Asian Survey, and the Chinese Journal of Sociology. He holds a PhD in Sociology from Princeton University, an MSc in Political Sociology from the London School of Economics, and a BA in Economics from the University of Chicago.
Ho-fung Hung is the Henry M. and Elizabeth P. Wiesenfeld Professor in Political Economy in the Department of Sociology and the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. His scholarly interests include global political economy, protest, nation-state formation, social theory, and East Asian development. He received his bachelor’s degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, his MA from SUNY-Binghamton, and his PhD in Sociology from Johns Hopkins University.
Khalid Nadvi is Professor of International Development at the Global Development Institute (GDI) and Head of the School of Environment, Education and Development at The University of Manchester. His research focuses on globalisation, trade, industrial development, and global value chains, with particular attention to labour standards, corporate responsibility, and the role of emerging economies. He holds a BA, MA, and DPhil from the University of Sussex.
Dev Nathan is an economist who works in an interdisciplinary manner. His recent works include the UNU-WIDER Cambridge Element Knowledge and Global Inequality Since 1800 and (co-authored) Witch Hunts: Culture, Patriarchy and Structural Transformation and Reverse Subsidies in Global Monopoly Capitalism.
Dr. Rahul S is an Assistant Professor at the School of Management and Labour Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, where he teaches analytics, sustainability, and research methods. He was pivotal in the development of the Bachelor’s in Analytics and Sustainability Studies programme at TISS and plays a key role in organising the annual Rural Immersion and Urban Immersion programmes. These initiatives engage students directly with agrarian and rural issues, resulting in institutional reports on agricultural situations, market linkages, and community structures.
His research spans global value chains, labour relations, rural and urban sustainability, and technology’s impact on work and livelihoods. He has co-authored articles in Economic and Political Weekly, The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, and Sustainable Development, as well as the book Reverse Subsidies in Global Monopsony Capitalism (Cambridge University Press, 2022). He has also contributed to multi-country reports with the International Labour Organization and Asia Floor Wage Alliance.
Margaret M. Pearson is the Dr. Horace E. and Wilma V. Harrison Distinguished Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s China Center. Her research examines China’s state-business relations, and reactions abroad to China’s economic behavior. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University and is the author of several books on China’s domestic and international political economy.
Yeling Tan is Professor of Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Her research explores the political economy of globalization, development, and policymaking, with a focus on China and the Asian region. She holds a PhD in Public Policy and an MPA in International Development from Harvard University, and a BA in International Relations and Economics from Stanford University.
Ka Zeng is Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Senior Research Fellow at the Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations. Her research examines China’s role in the global economy, focusing on trade policy, global economic governance, and trade dispute dynamics. She is also a fellow in the Public Intellectuals Program of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.
Post-Keynesian Economist. Professor of development finance at Tallinn University of Technology, adjunct Professor at the New School for Social Research and editor of the Journal of Post Keynesian Economics.