Biography
Hiro Ito is a Professor of Economics, the Department Chair in the Economics Department and the co-director and co-founder of the Initiatives for Community Disaster Resilience at Portland State University. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2004 and joined PSU the same year.
His areas of research are financial liberalization and development, capital flows, emerging market open macro policies, and global imbalances. His papers have been published in the Oxford Economic Papers, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of International Money and Finance, and Review of International Economics. He has visited many international banks as a visiting scholar. These include the Asian Development Bank Institute, the Bank for International Settlements, De Nederlandsche Bank, and the Research Institute of Economics, Trade, and Industry. He has done consulting work for the Asian Development Bank and is currently an associate editor of the Journal of International Money and Finance and the Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy.
Hiro’s teaching interests have been in monetary theory, macroeconomics, and East Asian economic development. He has overseen many undergraduate and graduate student thesis and directed studies and enjoys helping students with their scholarly and academic growth and pursuits.
The 2018 updated Chinn-Ito index (Chinn and Ito, 2006, 2008), updated 7/13/2020.
The updated Trilemma Indexes (Aizenman, Chinn, and Ito, updated 7/13/2020). The instructions and program files to recreate the indexes as of October 12, 2016.
Other Appointments
- Co-Editor, Economics – The Open-Access, Open-Assessment Journal, 2021 – present
- Associate Editor, Journal of International Money and Finance, 2013 – present
- Associate Editor, Journal of International Commerce, Economics, and Policy, 2009 – present
Current Research and Publications
"Do Central Banks Rebalance Their Currency Shares?" (with M. Chinn and R. McCauley). NBER Working Paper No. w29190 (August 2021). R&R.
"Central Bank Swap Arrangements in the COVID-19 Crisis" (with J. Aizenman and G. K. Pasricha). NBER Working Paper No. w28585 (August 2021). R&R.
"U.S. Macro Policies and Global Economic Challenges (with Joshua Aizenman)." East Asian Economic Review Vol. 24, No. 4 (December 2020) 469-495, https://dx.doi.org/10.11644/KIEP.EAER.2020.24.4.388.
"Post COVID-19 Exit Strategies and Emerging Markets Economic Challenges," (with Joshua Aizenman). NBER Working Paper #27966.
"The Political-Economy Trilemma," (with Joshua Aizenman). Forthcoming in Open Economies Review (2020). Also available as NBER Working Paper #26905 (March 2020).
"Clamoring for Greenbacks: Explaining the Resurgence of the US Dollar in International Debt," (with Cesar Rodriguez) International Finance, https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1111/infi.12370 (February 2020).
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
"U.S. Macro Policies and Global Economic Challenges (with Joshua Aizenman)." East Asian Economic Review Vol. 24, No. 4 (December 2020) 469-495, https://dx.doi.org/10.11644/KIEP.EAER.2020.24.4.388.
"The Political-Economy Trilemma," (with Joshua Aizenman). Forthcoming in Open Economies Review (2020). Also available as NBER Working Paper #26905 (March 2020).
"Clamoring for Greenbacks: Explaining the Resurgence of the US Dollar in International Debt," (with Cesar Rodriguez) International Finance, https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1111/infi.12370 (February 2020).
"A Requiem for “Blame It on Beijing”: Interpreting Rotating Global Current Account Surpluses" (with Menzie Chinn, U of Wisconsin) NBER Working Paper No. 26226 (September 2019). Forthcoming in Journal of International Money and Finance. Also available at VOX CEPR Policy Portal (November 21, 2019).
"Financial Spillovers and Macroprudential Policies" (with J. Aizenman and M. Chinn) Open Economic Review, 31, 529–563 (2020).
"Currency Composition of Foreign Exchange Reserves," (with Robert McCauley). BIS Working Papers #828 (December 2019). Journal of International Money and Finance, Volume 102 (April 2020, 102104).
Non-peer Reviews Articles, Book Chapters
"Capital Flows and Exchange Rate Policies (originally titled as: “East Asian Economies and Financial Globalization In the Post-Crisis World)" (with J. Aizenman). In Volz, U. P. Morgan, and N. Yoshino eds., Routledge Handbook of Banking and Finance in Asia (2019). Also available as NBER Working Paper #22268 (May 2016). Its summary is available at VOXEU.
"Alternative Index of Financial Development" (with M. Kawai), Public Policy Review, Vol. 14, No. 5 (2018) (Japanese version is available here).
"Monetary Policy in Asia and the Pacific In the Post, Post-Crisis Era." In Chen, K. Y. and W. Dobson, eds., Financial Development and Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific, Pacific Trade and Development (PAFTAD) Conference Series 36, London and New York: Routledge (January 2015).
"The Rise of the 'Redback' and China's Capital Account Liberalization: An Empirical Analysis on the Determinants of Invoicing Currencies" (with Menzie D. Chinn). In Eichengreen, B. and M. Kawai, Eds., Renminbi Internationalization: Achievements, Prospects, and Challenges (January 2015).
"North Pacific Integration from an International Financial Perspective," In Morrison, C.E. and Noland, M. Eds., Strengthening North Pacific Cooperation (2015).
"International reserves before and after the Global Crisis: Is There No End to Hoarding?" VOX CEPR's Policy Portal (September 13, 2014).
"A New Crisis for Asia's Emerging Economies," East Asian Forum, Australian National University (May 2014).
Book Reviews
"Book review on China and Asia: Economic and Financial Interactions edited by Yin-Wong Cheung and Kar-Yiu Wong, Routledge Studies in the Modern World Economy, 2009). Pacific Affairs, Volume 84, No. 2 (June 2011).
Book Review on Monetary Policy with Very Low Inflation in the Pacific Rim (Edited by Takatoshi Ito and Andy Rose, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2006). International Review of Economics and Finance, Volume 17, Issue 3, p. 492-494 (2008).
Other Publication
Study Guide to Accompany International Economics: Theory and Policy, by Paul Krugman, Maurice Obstfeld, and Marc J. Meltiz, with Michael Klein, Linda Goldberg, and Jay Shambaugh. Harper-Collins: New York (2011).
Working Papers
"A Disaster Underinsurance Puzzle: Home Bias in Disaster Risk" (with Robert McCauley, BIS) BIS Working Papers #808 (August 2019).
"Managing the Yield Curve in a Financially Globalized World," (with Phuong Tran). RIETI Discussion Paper Series 19-E-012 (2019).
"East Asian Economies and Financial Globalization In the Post-Crisis World," (with J. Aizenman), NBER Working Paper #22268 (May 2016).
"The Determinants of the Trilemma Constraint" (with M. Kawai). Mimeo (November 2013).
"Living with the Trilemma Constraint: Relative Trilemma Policy Divergence, Crises, and Output Losses for Developing Countries" (with Joshua Aizenman), NBER Working Paper #19448 (September 2013).
"New Measures of the Trilemma Hypothesis and Their Implications for Asia" (with Masahiro Kawai). ADBI Working Paper 381. (February 2012).
Courses taught
Undergraduate
Principle of Economics (that includes both intro. micro- and macroeconomics)
Principle of Macroeconomics
Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory
International Finance (open to graduate students)
East Asian Economic Development (open to graduate students)
Political Economy of Japanese Development
Introduction to Econometrics
Graduate
Advanced Macroeconomics
Applications of Advanced Macroeconomic Theory (sequel to the above course)
International Finance
East Asian Economic Development
Pacific Rim Economies, Trade, and Financial Markets (for MBA students)
Macroeconomics and Financial System (MBA at Willamette University)
Pacific Rim Economies, Trade, and Financial Markets (MBA at Portland State University)