Discussion to explore America's
new economic and foreign policy
A quartet of Boston College faculty members will discuss how the United States is redefining its economic and foreign policy, and the implications this holds for America’s global relationships and national interests, at the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Colloquium on September 30 at 4:30 p.m. in Gasson 100.
The panelists are Neenan Millennium Chair in Economics James Anderson, Associate Professor of Economics Farid Farrokhi, Associate Professor of Political Science Lindsey O’Rourke, and Associate Professor of Economics Rosen Valchev.
"America’s New Economic and Foreign Policy” takes place in the wake of considerable upheaval and controversy that has marked President Trump’s term thus far, including his attempts to exert authority over the United States Federal Reserve, his encroachment on private-sector companies, his use of tariffs to reshape post-war U.S. trade policy, and his controversial role in international affairs—notably the Ukraine-Russian and Middle East crises. These and other developments have had, and continue to have, significant implications for U.S. domestic and foreign affairs.
“I am looking forward to this important discussion on September 30,” said Morrissey College Dean Gregory Kalscheur, S.J. “We are living through tumultuous times with regard to U.S. economic and foreign policy. The Morrissey College is fortunate to include faculty colleagues with the expertise and experience to help us better understand and navigate the current moment. I am grateful for their willingness to share their insights with the larger University community.”
Dean's Colloquium panelists include Neenan Millennium Chair in Economics James Anderson, Associate Professor of Economics Farid Farrokhi, Associate Professor of Political Science Lindsey O'Rourke, and Associate Professor of Economics Rosen Valchev.
Anderson, a member of the BC faculty since 1969, has researched and written about international trade, political economy, and economic development. He is known for championing the economic theory of gravity, which provides structural foundations for inferences about forms of trade barriers that are implicit in trade patterns. Winner of the University’s Distinguished Senior Research Award in 1999, Anderson is the co-author—with late Oxford University Professor of Economics J. Peter Neary—of Measuring the Restrictiveness of International Trade Policy.
Farrokhi joined the Economics Department in 2024 after having taught at Purdue University; he also has been a visiting faculty member and scholar at Columbia University and Princeton University. His areas of interest include international trade, spatial economics, and environmental economics. He has written or co-authored papers on topics such as trade policy’s mitigation of climate change, wage inequality and the location of cities, and the relationship between trade, technology, and agricultural productivity.
O’Rourke, beginning her 12th year at BC, studies international relations theory, American foreign policy, international security, and military strategy. She is the author of Covert Regime Change: America’s Secret Cold War, which explores the differences between overt and covert regime change, and argues that conventional focus on overt cases misses the basic causes of regime change; Covert Regime Change won the 2018 International Security Studies Section Best Book Award. She has served as organizer for the Political Science Department’s Foreign Policy Speaker Series.
In addition to teaching at BC, Valchev—who arrived in 2015—is a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research encompasses macroeconomics, international macro and finance, asset pricing, and microfinance. Among his other projects, Valchev co-developed a new theory explaining the sustained dominance of the U.S. dollar as the key international currency, which offers a framework for thinking about what might potentially supplant the dollar, how that would unfold over time, and what would be the repercussions for the U.S. and the global economy.
The colloquium is free and open to the public.