At the FIW workshop "Women in International Economics", Katharina Jäger, Junior Scientist at the AIT Center for Innovation Systems & Policy was honored with the FIW Award for outstanding master's theses in the field of International Economics. The award was presented by Manfred Schekulin (BMAW).
FIW https://www.fiw.ac.at/) is a co-operation of several leading Austrian research institutions dedicated to the promotion of economic research in the field of international economics. The FIW Award is intended to recognise and promote outstanding Master's theses by young female academics and encouraging them to pursue an academic career.
In her master's thesis, Katharina Jäger examined the extent to which the decline in employment in Norway’s manufacturing sector between 2000 and 2011 can be explained by increasing import competition from China and Eastern Europe.
This topic is more relevant than ever—not only for Norway but for all Western industrialized nations. The impact of globalization and international trade on national labor markets continues to be a subject of intense discussion. Competition with China and Eastern Europe plays a crucial role, as many Western countries have faced job losses in manufacturing industries over the past decades.
The debate over protecting domestic industries, trade tariffs, and economic dependencies remains pressing—especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and in light of current geopolitical tensions between major economic blocs.