In a world distressed by a pandemic and a year-long war in Ukraine, what is the future of globalization? International trade guru Caroline Freund, author, scholar, and former World Bank official, will tackle these and related issues as a presenter at the 2023 Camden Conference, February 19-21.

Dr. Freund is Dean of the School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS) at the University of California, San Diego. Earlier, she served as global director of Trade, Investment and Competitiveness at the World Bank.

She is one of the nation’s leading researchers on trade issues, according to Camden Conference, in a news release. Recently she examined the relationship of trade to inflation in the US. She noted that while supply chain issues and shipping delays played a major role for a period of time, “for imported goods…demand is equally if not more responsible.”

She added, “Prices have risen but import quantities have also grown faster than before the pandemic, implying strangled suppled chains (were) not the sole driver of inflation.”

Prof. Steve Altman, director of the DHL Initiative on Globalization at NYU’s Stearns Center, noted recently that across the world of academia, Dr. Freund is doing “some of the most interesting research” on international trade.

The author of Rich People Poor Countries: The Rise of Emerging Market Tycoons and their Mega Firms, she was co-director of the World Bank’s flagship World Development Report 2020 on global value chains.

The 36th annual Camden Conference, entitled Global Trade and Politics: Managing Turbulence will focus on the future of global commerce and alternative ways in which the interdependence of commerce, global politics and national security could be successfully managed for both competition and cooperation. The Camden Conference organizers point out that the term, “national security” includes both military security and protection of the environment.

The Camden Conference is a nonprofit, non-partisan, volunteer-driven citizens' forum with the mission of fostering informed discourse on world issues. Year-round public engagement through community events and student education programs culminates in an annual February weekend conference presented live on the stage of the Camden Opera House and livestreamed to venues in Maine and households around the world. For more information, please visit www.camdenconference.org.