- Contemporary China Centre
About me
Research focus
International trade policy, with a specific focus on economic integration/disintegration.
Education
Dr Jackson studied at the University of Sussex (DPhil in Economics), University of Nottingham (MSc Economics) and University of Kent (BA Mathematics and Economics). She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Employment
Dr Jackson has been awarded the title of Reader in Economics (effective from 1 August 2021). She also manages 20+ staff as part of her role as Assistant Head of School and supports the global engagement activities of Westminster Business School as the Senior Regional Coordinator.
She has previously held positions at the UK Department for International Development (Economist), University of Sussex (Research Officer) and University of Bradford (Head of Economics, China and East Asia Development Director and Senior Lecturer in Economics).
Consultancy and Advisory Assignments
Dr Jackson has worked as a consultant for the Commonwealth Secretariat and UK Department for International Development. Moreover, she has been called upon to be an expert panel member for the UK Economic Social Research Council.
She has also undertaken a range of external examiner and expert appointments.
Partnership Development and Networks
Dr Jackson has extensive experience developing global partnerships. In addition to her current role as Senior Regional Coordinator for Westminster Business School, she previously worked as China and East Asia Development Director (University of Bradford) while living in China, establishing a foreign enterprise and leading partnership developments across East Asia.
She is also co-convener of the Westminster Development Policy Network, which includes the annual Westminster Development Studies Symposium (co-hosted with Westminster International University in Tashkent) and seminar series such as the Westminster Development Network Virtual Seminars jointly organised with the International Food Policy Research Institute and Westminster International University in Tashkent; speakers included Jeffrey Sachs (Columbia University) .
She also jointly organises the Global Economic Policy Group with the University of Duisburg-Essen (Institute of East Asian Studies), FernUniversität in Hagen (CEAMeS) and Fudan University (Institute of World Economy).
Dr Jackson is a member of the Royal Economic Society, American Economic Association, and the Contemporary China Centre (University of Westminster).
PhD Supervision
Dr Jackson has supervised three PhD students to completion (2012, 2014 and 2018), with all three of these candidates now holding permanent academic positions at UK Universities. She is also currently supervising a further three students.
Personal website...link
Teaching
Dr Karen Jackson's teaching experience focuses on microeconomics, mathematics and international economics. More specifically, she has been module leader for the following:
Level 3 Preliminary Mathematics for Economists
Level 4 Mathematics for Economists
Level 4 Introduction to Microeconomics
Level 4 Principles of Economic Theory (Microeconomics)
Level 4 Global Economic Issues
Level 5 Further Mathematics for Economists
Level 5 Microeconomic Theory
Level 5 Intermediate Economic Theory (Microeconomics)
Level 6 International Economics
Level 6 Trade, Regionalism and Globalisation
Level 6 International Trade
Level 6 Economics of Labour
Level 7 International Economics
Level 7 Microeconomic Theory and Policy
She has developed a list of key international trade resources as well as authoring a chapter (mathematics and statistics teaching) in The Handbook for Economics Lecturers (Economics Network)
Research
Publications
"Belt and Road: The China Dream?", (2021), China Economic Review, 67 (with O. Shepotylo)
"An examination of EU trade disintegration scenarios", (2021), The World Economy, 44(1), pp. 2-20 (with O. Shepotylo)
"Trade (Dis)integration: The sudden death of NAFTA", (2020), Open Economies Review, 31(4), pp. 931-943 (with D. Bakas and G Magkonis)
“An inquiry into exchange rate misalignments as a cause of the major global trade imbalances”, (2019), Journal of Economic Studies, 46(4), pp. 902-924 (with M.A. Nasir)
“Identifying networks in social media: The case of #Grexit”, (2019), Networks and Spatial Economics, 19(1), pp. 319-330 (with G. Magkonis)
“Regional trade institutions in West Africa: Historical reflections”, (2018), Journal of International Development, 30(8), pp. 1255-1272 (with E. Bah and D. J. Potts)
“Post-Brexit trade survival: Looking beyond the European Union”, (2018), Economic Modelling, 73, pp. 317-328 (with O. Shepotylo)
The segmentation of Europe: Convergence or divergence between core and periphery, (2017) Palgrave Macmillan (with M. Baimbridge, U. R. Lee and I. Litsios)
“Evaluating methodological issues in the tourism literature: UK outgoing tourism and trade links”, (2015), Economic Issues, 28(1), pp. 1-42 (with W. Zang)
“Great achievements and great challenges: The EU Common Fisheries Policy” in Re-examining the EU policies in a global perspective edited by M. R. Szeles, (2013), Palgrave Macmillan
“Reconsidering the silk road: Tourism in the context of regionalism and trade patterns“ in Handbook on the Economics of Leisure edited by S. Cameron, (2011) Edward Elgar.
"A Framework for evaluating regional trade agreements involving developing countries", (2005), Report for the UK Department for International Development (with D. Evans, M. Gasiorek, P. Holmes, L. Iacovone, S. Robinson and J. Rollo)
"Investment incentives in Commonwealth developed countries and the WTO investment negotiations.", (2003), Commonwealth Secretariat Economic Paper Series (with J. Lafortune, J.C.R. Rowley, S.R. Vemuri, and R. Scollay)
Funded research project (ongoing)
China in Uzbekistan: an investigation into the effects of the BRI on trade, migration, and Chinese language education, Nov 2019 - Nov 2021, WUIT Collaborative Research Fund, 9,710 pounds [Co-Investigator] Project Page
Research impact
"US-UK trade deal: what can post-Brexit Britain hope to get?", (2021), The Conversation, 4 Jan (with O. Shepotylo)
"A UK-US trade deal would look less likely under Joe Biden – which means the NHS red line could be crossed", (2020), iPaper, 16 Oct
“China-US trade talks cancelled: why negotiations will still happen eventually”, (2020), The Conversation, 14 Aug (with O. Shepotylo)
"US-UK trade talks have begun – here’s what each side wants and what to expect", (2020), The Conversation, 11 May (with O. Shepotylo)
NAFTA 2.0 is a welcome deal for the US, Canada and Mexico in a time of trade uncertainty, (2019), LSE US Centre, 13 Nov (with D. Bakas and G. Magkonis)
"Winners and losers in the US-China trade war", (2019), The Conversation, 25 Jun (with O. Shepotylo)
"Brexit: breaking up is hard to do", (2019), The Money - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 21 March
"Why a no-deal Brexit would be less costly for the EU than the UK", (2019), The Conversation, 24 Jan (with A. Delis and O. Shepotylo)
"Brexit: four things you need to know", (2019), The UK in a Changing Europe, 11 Jan (with O. Shepotylo)
JVC - BBC Three Counties Radio interview, (2018), 14 Dec
"No deal? Seven reasons why a WTO-only Brexit would be bad for Britain", (2018), The Conversation, 23 Aug (with O. Shepotylo) [More than 70,000 reads]
"Post-Brexit trade with the US Donald Trump was right when he said a deal would be tricky", (2018), The Conversation, 20 July (with O. Shepotylo)
"A customs union would free the UK to strike trade deals but it doesnt solve every Brexit problem", (2018), The Conversation, 26 April (with O. Shepotylo)
"The five alternatives to EU single market and customs union would all make UK poorer", (2018), The Conversation, 26 Feb (with O. Shepotylo)
"West Africa: Empirehood and colonialism offer lessons in integration", (2017), The Conversation, 12 December (with E. Bah and D. J. Potts) [More than 75,000 reads]
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.