On October 22th, 2024, the Institute for International and Area Studies (hereinafter referred to as IIAS) at Tsinghua University invited Andy Baker, Professor of Political Science at Purdue University, to give a lecture on the topic “Does Trade Improve a Country’s Image Abroad? Experimental Evidence for the Gentle Commerce Hypothesis”. The lecture was hosted by Zhou Yan, Assistant Professor at IIAS. More than 60 people attended, including teachers and students from IIAS, as well as scholars and students from universities at home and abroad.

In the lecture, Professor Baker first started with the correlation between commerce and country’s image, and briefly summarized the channels through which countries influence each other in gentle commerce, as well as the specific mechanisms at work, including intuitive mercantilism and job creation. On this basis, Prof. Baker further introduced four empirical data on the gentle commerce hypothesis and analyzed the potential mediators therein. Finally, Prof. Baker summarized the content in terms of arguments for gentle commerce, channels of influence, and possibilities for future research.

During the Q&A session of this lecture series, Prof. Baker had a lively discussion with the audience on the topics covered in the lecture and the specific methodology and variable control of the data research, as well as the image of China and the United States as evaluated by the individual research target countries.

Andy Baker is Professor of Political Science at Purdue University. Andy conducts research on Latin American politics, mass political behavior, and international political economy. He is the author of Persuasive Peers: Social Communication and Voting in Latin America and also the author of The Market and the Masses in Latin America: Policy Reform and Consumption in Liberalizing Economies and Shaping the Developing World: The West, the South, and the Natural World: Second Edition. His articles have appeared in American Journal of Political Science, American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Politics, Latin American Research Review, World Development, World Politics, and other reputable journals.

Text editor: Latin America and the Caribbean Studies research group

Proofreader: Latin America and the Caribbean Studies research group