Barbara J. Spencer

Barbara Judith Spencer is an Australian–Canadian economist whose research focuses on international trade theory and industrial organization. With James Brander, she developed the Brander–Spencer model in international economics. Their joint work in the early 1980s has been described in the scholarly literature as pioneering in the development of strategic trade policy, which concerns the use of trade measures to alter strategic competition among firms in international oligopolistic markets.

In 1985, Spencer and Brander published “Export Subsidies and International Market Share Rivalry,” which introduced the Brander–Spencer model and was identified as the most-cited paper published in the Journal of International Economics from the journal’s inception in 1971 to 2000. Their earlier 1981 paper, “Tariffs and the Extraction of Foreign Monopoly Rents under Potential Entry, received the Harry Johnson Prize from the Canadian Economics Association for the best paper published in the Canadian Journal of Economics in 1981. In 2018, Spencer was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Economic Association.

Education Spencer received her Bachelor of Economics in 1967 at Australian National University, her Masters of Economics in 1970 at Monash University, and her Ph.D. in 1979 at Carnegie Mellon University.

Career Spencer began her academic career at the University of Manitoba, where she served as an Assistant Professor before entering the PhD program at Carnegie Mellon University in 1976. She was promoted to Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba in 1979. From 1980 to 1985, she was an Associate Professor at Boston College, during which period she made early contributions to the development of strategic trade policy. In 1988, she was appointed Asia Pacific Professor in Trade Policy at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, a position she held for more than 25 years before becoming Professor Emerita at the University of British Columbia.

From 2004 to 2005, Spencer served as President of the Canadian Economics Association. In 2018, she was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Economics Association in recognition of her contributions to international trade theory and industrial organization. She has also served in editorial and advisory roles for academic journals, including the American Economic Review and the Journal of International Economics.

In their 1985 article “Export Subsidies and International Market Share Rivalry,” published in the Journal of International Economics, Brander and Spencer analyzed how an export subsidy could increase domestic welfare in an oligopolistic international market involving one domestic firm and one foreign firm. The article argued that, by affecting the strategic interaction between the firms, an export subsidy could shift profits from the foreign firm to the domestic firm.

A 2026 introduction to a symposium in honour of Brander described Brander and Spencer’s collaborative research on strategic trade policy as important to the shift in international trade theory from models centred on perfect competition toward models incorporating strategic behaviour by firms and governments.

Spencer’s later research also addressed vertical relationships, keiretsu, joint ventures, intermediate-goods trade, and other issues at the intersection of trade policy and industrial organization. Her work has appeared in journals such as the Review of Economic Studies, the International Economic Review, and the Journal of International Economics. Co-developer recognition for Brander–Spencer model (Strategic Trade Theory) – widely cited foundational work in international economics. Most-cited paper in the Journal of International Economics from its inception in 1971 to 2000 (historical recognition Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) (since 1985; long-term affiliation recognizing scholarly standing) Editorial and professional service appointments, including associate editor roles at leading economics journals such as the American Economic Review and the Journal of International Economics Featured CEA Fellow citation for outstanding contributions to international trade theory and industrial organization