Sourafel Girma

Professor Sourafel Girma is a Professor of Industrial Economics at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Nottingham, and an External Research Fellow at the Kiel Centre for Globalization (KCG) since 2017. His research focuses on microeconometric policy evaluation, the impact of globalization, and Chinese firms' performance analysis.

Professor Girma specializes in analyzing how economic policies create both direct and indirect effects across firms. His research examines the complex dynamics of export processing in China, subsidy impacts on firm productivity, and wage effects of foreign direct investment. He employs sophisticated econometric approaches that account for time-varying treatments and spillover effects within industry clusters, revealing how interventions affecting some firms can negatively impact others in competitive environments.

His publications demonstrate a consistent focus on Chinese economic development within global value chains. Girma's work shows that production subsidies boost recipient firms' productivity but often create negative externalities for non-subsidized firms in the same clusters. Similarly, his research on export processing reveals significant productivity gains, particularly for firms entering industrialized Northern markets.

At KCG, Professor Girma contributes to multiple research projects including cross-cultural differences in corporate social responsibility, experimental studies of moral responsibility in global supply chains, and modeling economic dimensions of global value chains. He has participated in policy discussions through contributions to UNIDO reports on Global Value Chains with focus on Asia.

Professor Girma actively engages in academic knowledge transfer, having taught specialized courses on treatment evaluation with observational data in KCG's Advanced Studies Program. His collaborative research with scholars like Holger Görg demonstrates his commitment to advancing understanding of globalization's microeconomic foundations and their policy implications.