The Forum for Research in Empirical International Trade (FREIT) is an international organization that runs research conferences for economists who work on empirical international trade. It is housed in the Georgia Tech School of Economics.
History
FREIT dates back to 1994, when Jon Haveman organized the first Empirical Investigations in International Trade (EIIT) conference at Purdue University. EIIT has met every year since and is still FREIT's flagship conference. Over three decades, FREIT has grown into an umbrella for trade conferences in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It moved to Georgia Tech in 2026.
Conferences
- Empirical Investigations in International Trade (EIIT), United States
- Empirical Investigations in Trade and Investment (EITI), Japan
- Rocky Mountain Empirical Trade Conference (RMET), Canada
- Sardinian Empirical Trade Conference (SETC), Italy
- Melbourne Empirical Trade Conference (METC), Australia
- Korean Empirical Trade Conference (KETC), South Korea
- Silk Road Empirical Trade Conference (SRET), Kazakhstan
- Belgian Empirical Trade Conference (BETC), Belgium
The conferences keep the format EIIT started with in 1994. Each is small, with no parallel sessions, at most 15 papers, and every paper gets a full hour with a discussant. Participants range from graduate students to senior researchers, and the discussions are informal and lively. EIIT has given a prize for the best paper presented by a graduate student every year since 1995, and SETC has done the same since 2017.
Since 1994, FREIT has held more than 90 conferences. More than 1,250 papers have been presented, and more than 800 economists have presented or served as discussants.
FREIT at Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech School of Economics Professor Tibor Besedeš is FREIT's executive director. He served as associate director from 2016 to 2018 and director from 2018 to 2026. FREIT's other directors and its editorial board are trade economists at universities and research institutions in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. During the Covid-19 pandemic, FREIT and Georgia Tech hosted the Empirical Trade Online Seminar, a weekly online seminar that ran from 2020 to 2022.
For upcoming conferences, calls for papers, and to join FREIT's mailing list, visit freit.org.