Caroline L. Freund is an American economist who is currently the dean of University of California San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS).
She was Director of Trade, Regional Integration and Investment Climate at the World Bank and a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics since 2013, a position from which she is on leave.
Prior to receiving her doctorate, she joined the Peace Corps in Ghana for two years, teaching math in a village school near the town of Kumasi.
Besides her fellowship with the Peterson Institute for International Economics and recent position with the World Bank, Freund has served in three previous roles with the World Bank: Chief Economist for the Middle East and North Africa from 2011 to 2013, and Senior and Lead Economist in the Development Research Group for International Trade from 2002 to 2009 and 2009 to 2011, respectively.
Freund has been appointed the next dean of the University of California San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS), effective July 1, 2021.
[5] However, from an empirical standpoint, they find that neither an increase in trade diversion nor a slowdown in external liberalization can be seen, and a weakening of multilateralism has yet to be properly measured.
[5] In 2010, together with Emanuel Ornelas, she wrote a paper (titled "Regional trade agreements: blessing or burden") examining the strengths and weaknesses of RTAs, which as noted above had seen a surge in popularity since the early 1990s.
[6] In 2019, Dr Freund guided the World Bank publication on transport corridors due to China's Belt and Road Initiative.
Controlling for endogeneity and remoteness, they find that, on average, each additional day of delay is the same as a country increasing its distance from its trading partners by 70 kilometres.
[12] At the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Freund published a book (titled "Rich People Poor Countries: The Rise of Emerging-Market Tycoons and their Mega Firms") with the assistance of Sarah Oliver in 2016.