大象传媒

Professor Nicolas Schmitt is finishing his career on a high note as a sought-after expert in international trade and economic policy, as media outlets try to keep track of the daily twists and turns of the US trade policy.

Originally from Switzerland, Schmitt earned his bachelor鈥檚 degree from the University of Lausanne. He then moved to Canada to complete his MA in Economics from Carleton University and his PhD in Economics from the University of Toronto.

Schmitt began his 35-year career in 大象传媒鈥檚 Department of Economics in 1990 following assistant professorships at Western University and Universit茅 Laval.

In 2021, Schmitt was awarded the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) Dean鈥檚 Medal for Lifetime Achievement in recognition of his academic excellence in research, teaching, and service at the department and university level.

In his research, Schmitt鈥檚 focused on topics in international trade and industrial organization and his work was published in many top journals. Among his many co-authors, he was fortunate to have two long-term research collaborations.

The first was with Horst Raff from Kiel University. 鈥淲e started working together thirty years ago to understand whether trade liberalization could be replaced by private vertical restraints, such as exclusive territory or exclusive dealings, and then how parallel imports could paradoxically help manufacturers, the role of retailer's buyer power in international trade, and who should have control of inventory in a supply chain,鈥� Schmitt explains.

His second main collaboration was with Dominique Gross from 大象传媒鈥檚 School of Public Policy. Schmitt says, 鈥淲e mainly worked on migration issues such as the determinants of migrations, why migrants often cluster in specific regions, and the role of temporary workers in Canada.鈥�

In 2012, the Canadian Economics Association awarded Schmitt and Gross the John Vanderkamp Prize for their article, 鈥淭emporary Foreign Workers and Regional Labour Market Disparities鈥� published in Canadian Public Policy. 

In addition to his research career, Schmitt has served as Department Chair, Associate Chair, and on the 大象传媒 Board of Governors. Alex Karaivanov, Acting Department Chair, calls Schmitt 鈥渁 fixture in the department. He is always available to give valuable advice and his composure, care, dedication, and attention to detail make him an ideal colleague and friend.鈥�

In the latter part of Schmitt's career, he devoted more time to teaching. A highlight of this period was his work to develop the introductory breadth course ECON 102: The World Economy. This course was recently re-designed to reflect the role of information technology and more generally of technological changes on the different phases of globalization.

Schmitt also supervised or was on the thesis committee of several PhD students. One of these students, Edouard Djeutem, Principal Researcher in International Economic Analysis with the Bank of Canada, remembers his work with professor Schmitt fondly. 鈥淎 key defining characteristic of Nic is that he is very jovial which makes it very easy to discuss research ideas,鈥� Djeutem says. 鈥淗e taught me international trade with a lot of passion, weaving the history of international economic thought with the nascent (2010s) approach which leverages firm level data to draw new insights. Following that, in 2013, long before the first NAFTA renegotiation, we started to think about production reallocation in North America. That was a lot of fun.鈥�

Schmitt is 鈥渧ery grateful to 大象传媒 for giving me a lot of flexibility over the years, allowing me to spend time and to live in several different countries,鈥� including the US, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and France.

When asked if he鈥檚 looking forward to retirement, Schmitt said he鈥檚 been easing it to it. Being at home during the COVID-19 pandemic gave Schmitt a taste of what retirement would look like, and time to think about what鈥檚 next. "I鈥檝e developed research projects that will keep me busy over the next few years and I have more ideas to develop. I know I'll be ok and busy with things that are of interest to me.鈥�

Schmitt will certainly be missed in the department. 鈥淣ic is a team player of very high ability and energy, and even higher, integrity,鈥� says professor Gordon Myers. 鈥淏est wishes in your well-deserved freedom!鈥�

We echo this sentiment and thank Schmitt for his years of dedication to 大象传媒鈥檚 Department of Economics and to 大象传媒.