Higher Seminar in Statecraft and Strategic Communication | Mara Bălașa

Abstract: I examine industrial policies to analyse the link between the geopolitical aims of states and climate measures. In 2023, climate mitigation was one of the main motivations for implementing industrial policies worldwide. While subsidies are the most common instrument for these policies, they are shown to have a distortive effect on trade, pointing towards a more fragmented world. Furthermore, multiple aims are often assigned to a single policy, which makes it more difficult to assess their results against their underlying intention. Along these lines, to avoid misspecification of future policies, I sketch the interaction between geopolitics and climate.

Bio: Mara is a PhD Fellow at the Center for Statecraft and Strategic Communication where she researches the clean energy transition with a focus on industrial policy and decarbonisation costs. She was awarded an MSc in Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics and a BSc (Hons) in Economics, Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick. During her master’s degree, she was the recipient of the UniCredit Foundation Masterscholarship for top students. Previously, Mara was a short term consultant at the World Bank, a market operations analyst at the European Central Bank and a research executive in public affairs in Brussels, focusing on energy and transport. She has also worked in public administration at the Ministry of Economy in Romania and at the Permanent Representation of Romania to the European Union.