Hâle Utar is a Professor of Economics at Grinnell College and holds the Sidney Meyer Endowed Chair in International Economics. She is also a Research Fellow at IZA, CESifo, and serves as an Associate Editor at The Review of International Economics.

Recent decades' increased globalization and international trade have led to significant and visible shifts in the competitive environment faced by businesses and, consequently, in how the production of goods is organized across countries and markets. The implications of these shifts on local economies and individual lives have been a highly visible topic of debate, both in the broader public and in academia. In a series of recent publications, Utar provides a detailed exploration of how globalization provokes adaptation in advanced country manufacturing firms, oftentimes costly transition for workers to other sectors and occupations, and indeed societal transformations in the form of polarization and changes in family patterns. Utar's current research agenda centers on adjustments of global value chains in the new era of rising protectionism and automation.