Dr. Blanton specializes in the area of international political economy, particularly the “human face” of the global economy. Broadly put, much of his current work deals with the intersection of human rights and the global economic system. That is, he examines how different facets of the global economy — including the investment decisions of multinational corporations, global trade, or the actions of international financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank — either influence or are influenced by different types of human rights, such as personal integrity rights, labor rights, and women’s rights.