IPC researchers are at the forefront of research on globalization. The focus at the IPC has long been on bottom-up, qualitative, firm- and industry-level research, and as many industries have globalized, IPC researchers have followed. More recently, building upon what has been learned in the field, IPC researchers have been contributing to foundational frameworks for globalization research and assisting the producers of economic statistics in their quest to develop better official statistics to support the study of globalization.
The Global Research Network (GRN)
The Global Research Network (GRN) is an MIT-led network of researchers, generating comparative international research to help reach data-driven conclusions on topics related to the work of the future, as well as other relevant topics.
Globalization and Industry Studies
Industries have different structures and modes for exchanging information, based on the cognitive and technical requirements for creating knowledge and exchanging information and specifications. These dynamics are explored in the book, The New Division of Labor: How Computers Are Creating the Next Job Market, by co-authors Frank Levy and Richard Murnane. These distinctions, often described in terms of tasks based on tacit or codified knowledge, affect the potential for business activities to be conducted at a distance, and therefore, the patterns of geographical spread, organizational and institutional arrangements, and levels of spatial concentration in specific industries. Industry studies by IPC researchers have documented how these patterns of globalization have evolved over time, as firms and entire sectors have engaged with new, emerging markets, competitors and customers.