Whether you’re looking for a job in economics, exploring a new hypothesis, or working to publish your first paper, you might wonder: can you do this in excel? And if not, how much coding should you learn, and how will you learn it? By Kurt Semm
Five years ago, I was studying Romantic literature, and writing my sonnets. Now, I’m a Junior Economist, a Ph.D. Candidate, and comfortable coding in LaTex, Python, R, & Stata. Looking back, there were plenty of pitfalls along the way, and many of them could have been avoided with a little extra guidance.
In an attempt to spare others the struggle, I set out to determine the best rules of thumb in a recent episode of YSI’s Early Career Time.
Pier-André Bouchard St-Amant, a mathematician with a Ph.D. in economics who specializes in the analysis and optimization of public policy reforms and business practices. He teaches quantitative methods and data science at ÉNAP.
Tim Fong, a data scientist whose Silicon Valley experience has ranged from computer vision to net worth data. He has an M.S. in statistics from Baruch College and a JD from the USF School of Law. His economic interest are in post-Keynesian price theory.
Listen to the whole conversation here, or keep reading for their 10 biggest tips.
Don’t be intimidated. Coding just means telling computers what you want them to do. It comes down to making calculations, opening files, opening or closing loops, and creating tables or graphs.
Don’t use excel. Government organizations might do this, but it can lead to a lot of errors. And imagine scrolling over 1,000,000 observations in a single spreadsheet.
Choose one language to start with. Master it, and only then branch out to others. Academic economists tend to prefer Stata because it’s best for running regressions. R is helpful with cleaning Data & makes beautiful plots/graphics (ggplot2). Python is popular in the private sector.
Stay organized. Remember to create a solid file system before you start coding, and make sure to write notes to yourself about what your code is doing. This will help your future self to replicate your work.
Go deep. See if your school, University, or Program teaches a Computer Science Class. These often give you a more in-depth understanding than online certification courses. And the certificates don’t tend to matter that much.
Say bye to Microsoft Word. If you’d like to get published, you’ll need to learn LaTex. It helps create nice-looking summary statistics and saves you a lot of time in the formatting stage of your research.
Expect frustration. There will be times you’ll want to throw your laptop against the wall. Coding is frustrating because errors are inevitable. It never works the first time. Keep at it, and you’ll get through.
Think carefully about your research question first If you want to get through the frustration, you need to care about your research question. Don’t study a question if you don’t care about the answer. Look for something that scares you a bit.
Remember that it’s just a tool Any coding should be in service of your ideas, which are probably nuanced, complex, subjective, and evolving. Don’t reduce your ideas to the level of your coding skills. Improve your code to serve your ideas.
Enjoy the journey. There is a lot to learn, and many resources out there to help you. Here’s a small selection:
About the Author: Kurt Semm is a Junior Economist at the Institute of New Economic Thinking. Simultaneously, he is a Ph.D. Student at the New School for Social Research. He received his BA at St. John’s University in Literature and Economics and an MS from the New School for Social Research. His main areas of research are Ecology, Political Economy, and Water Resources. His research deals with water management and allocation, regional development, and equity, with a particular interest in the Southwest United States.
Thought this was interesting? Keep an eye out for more episodes of YSI’s Early Career Time. Each one explores a challenge in publishing, teaching, the job market, work-life balance, and the various institutional barriers young researchers face. If there’s a topic you’d like us to take up, let us know in the comments below.
By Shyam Soundararajan | Dissecting Capitalism is a recurring webinar series in the South Asia Working Group that aims to organize a webinar series on the dominant ideology/economic system – capitalism. It aims to explore the tenets of capitalism over the fabric of time and examine its influence on the economy and social classes.
Over the course of 8 webinar sessions in November and December 2021, this project has brought together scholars from various fields of academia such as economics, philosophy, social policy, and law to dissect capitalism through their unique theoretical and empirical lenses. This webinar series was organized by Sattwick Dey Biswas, Aneesha Chitgupi, and Shyam Soundararajan.
Before YSI South Asia hosts Season II of Dissecting Capitalism: Its past, present and future, here is a snapshot of the topics covered under Season I
Illustration by Aneesha Chitgupi
1. Globalization as a Threat to Democracy
The introductory session of the Webinar Series featured Professor Daniel W. Bromley, a Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This session was centered on globalization, international trade and democracy and was based on the book, “Possessive Individualism: A Crisis of Capitalism”.
Through this session, Professor Bromley was able to provide an interactive lecture on why globalization is a threat to democratic coherence. Through this lecture, Professor Bromley was able to unveil and demonstrate the hidden reality that globalization weakens the ability of national governments to confront economic crises.
Overall, this session displayed the problems that capitalism has imposed upon national governments, namely the inability to confront economic problems due to the issue of losing “global competitiveness”. View here
2. Multidimensional Poverty around the world: Unmasking Disparities
This session featured Dr. Sabina Alkire, the Director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at the University of Oxford. This session was centered around the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which measures poverty using a variety of factors.
Through this webinar, Dr. Alkire was able to explain more about the MPI by explaining its methodology. After this, Dr. Alkire presented the findings of the October 2021 global MPI report. In addition to this, Dr. Alkire discussed and dissected various disparities across ethnic groups and populations.
Overall, this webinar presented the impact of capitalism and its various endemic traits on poverty around the world. By discussing the MPI, Dr. Alkire was able to demonstrate how capitalism actively contributes to major poverty trends around the world. View here
3. Compressed Capitalism and Late Development in India
This session featured Professor Dr. Anthony P. D’Costa, an Eminent Scholar in Global Studies and Professor of Economics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. This session was centered around the changes faced by the Indian economy and the population following the 1991 economic reforms.
Through this session, Professor D’Costa presented an alternative approach to understanding the development dynamic of India. Through the use of capitalist dynamics in developing countries and compressed capitalism, Professor D’Costa showed that wealth inequality present in India is an inherent trait of late capitalist societies.
Overall, this session explained how some of the defining flaws of a capitalist society in a developing country are not an anomaly but rather a key tenet of a late capitalist society. The findings discussed in this session led to a broader understanding of some key tenets of capitalism. View here.
4. Designing a Pro-Market Social Protection System: A Literature Review
This session featured Professor Dr. Einar Øverbye, a Professor in International Social Welfare and Health Policy at Oslo Metropolitan University. This session was centered around the common argument that the welfare state is detrimental to the economy as it disincentivizes work.
Through this session, Professor Øverbye was able to explain and deconstruct the arguments surrounding the idea of welfare states disincentivizing work and reducing efficiency. By deconstructing the disincentive argument, Professor Øverbye was able to put forward his argument in support of designing a pro-market social protection system. Moreover, Professor Øverbye was able to demonstrate the importance of good design in a social system, thus unraveling the challenge surrounding the construction of a pro-market social protection system.
Overall, this session explained how good design in social structures can overcome some fundamental flaws associated with a system. This session also covered the role of a welfare state in a capitalist society and was able to discuss the contribution of key tenets of capitalism to a pro-market social protection system. View here.
5. The Law is an Anagram of Wealth
This session featured Professor Dr. Benjamin Davy, a visiting professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Johannesburg, and the School of Architecture and Spatial Planning, TU Wien University. Based on the book, “Land Policy”, this session addressed the relationship between land uses, land value, and land law.
Professor Davy was able to explain and demonstrate how the concept of material wealth depends heavily on the legal system present in a country. By using land laws and values, Professor Davy was able to explain how the economic structure of a society is affected by the law, thus leading back to the title of the session
Overall, this session showed attendees how material wealth, a key component of capitalism, depends on the legal system of a country. This inter-disciplinary session was also able to display the link between two seemingly unrelated fields of the social sciences, namely economics and law. View here.
6. John Stuart Mill’s Imperialism, Protestant Work Ethic, & Global South
This session featured Professor Dr. Elizabeth Anderson, the John Dewey Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy and Women’s & Gender Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. This session was co-organized with Diana Soeiro, an organizer at the Philosophy of Economics Working Group. This session was based on the core ideas of Professor Anderson’s upcoming book, which is focused on the history of the Protestant work ethic through the history of economics.
Through this session, Professor Anderson was able to show how John Stuart Mill’s economic theories on workers and his liberal ideas were contradictory to his stance on Imperialism. Professor Anderson was able to trace Mill’s contradictions to tensions innate to the Protestant work ethic. By doing this, Professor Anderson was able to transition to a more global discussion of the Protestant work ethic, which would be able to address the challenges faced by workers in the Global South in today’s economy.
Overall, this session presented yet another interdisciplinary focus on capitalism through philosophy and work ethic. By linking Mill’s contrarian positions to tensions in the Protestant work ethic and by globalizing the topic to factor in worker challenges in the Global South, Professor Anderson was able to provide some key insights on the often-ignored role of work ethic and philosophy in capitalism and globalization.View here.
7. Why Poverty is More Than a Lack of Income: Thoughts from China
This session featured Professor Dr. Robert Walker MBE, Professor at the Institute of Social Management/School of Sociology, Beijing Normal University under China’s ‘High-Level Foreign Talents’ program. This session was centred around the contemporary understanding of poverty beyond income and the case of China, which attempted to eradicate poverty in the 2010s.
Through this session, Professor Walker was able to highlight the disparity between policy and political reality when it comes to the concept of poverty.
By including the case of China, which eliminated absolute poverty to discover the presence of relative poverty, Professor Walker was able to shift the argument of poverty beyond the idea of low income and was able to provide psychological insights on poverty.
Overall, this session presented the need to rethink the mainstream understanding of poverty. Discussions surrounding China’s attempts to eradicate poverty presented an undocumented side of China affected by the country’s shift towards a semi-capitalist society. This session also provided an interdisciplinary outlook on poverty in China, which allowed attendees from the South Asia Working Group to be cognizant of poverty conditions in other Asian regions. View here
8. Beyond False Dilemmas in Economic Policy
The final session of the first season featured Dr. Sanjay G. Reddy, Associate Professor of Economics at The New School for Social Research. This session was centred around the discussion of false dilemmas in economic policy.
Through this session, Dr. Reddy was able to present his economic argument for dissolving and dismissing false dilemmas rather than resolving them. By using the false dilemmas of “for or against growth” and “domestic markets or globalization”, Dr. Reddy proved the logical fallacy in such dilemmas and presented alternative questions that were worth pursuing.
Overall, this session provided closure for the first season of “Dissecting Capitalism” by discussing false dilemma, a prominent element found in the discourse and dialogue surrounding capitalism and the need to rethink it. By discussing the “for or against growth” dilemma, Dr. Reddy was able to discuss a core argument presented by people opposing the need to rethink capitalism. Ultimately, this session allowed the attendees to dissect capitalism through the notion of false dilemmas present in today’s economic world. View here
Over the course of 8 webinar series held across 2 months, the South Asia Working Group was able to embark on a journey of exploration, learning and profound thinking. Moreover, the attendees were able to actively discuss core ideas of capitalism and dissect capitalist structures and norms, which enhanced discussion within the working group.
While this season did cover mainstream ideas of capitalism and other economic factors that are affected by capitalism, it did not cover the link between capitalism and heterodox fields such as climate economics and agricultural economics. This is something that Season II aims to cover. With a wide range of topics from economic thought to climate change to legal theory, Season II aims to build upon the foundations of the first season and further continue to explore the tenets of capitalism.
Season II will feature Jayati Ghosh, Barbara Harris-White, Shailaja Fennell, Katharina Pistor, and K V Subramanian. Join us live!
The YSI South Asia Working Group provides a platform for young scholars from South Asia -or those interested in the region- to select an issue they wish to work on, collaborate and discuss for better conceptualization of the problem and, debate, critique and improve upon solutions. We also invite scholars to suggest the most pressing problems and challenges to better guide the path for this working group. Join us!
About the organizers:
Sattwick Dey Biswas is an affiliated Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Policy, Bangalore, India. In 2019, he has earned Doctor rerum politicarum at the School of Spatial Planning, TU Dortmund University, Germany. He has published his doctoral thesis as a book titled, “Land acquisition and compensation in India: Mysteries of valuation” (2020) with Palgrave Macmillan. He is interested in the areas of Land Policy, Social Policy, and Political Economy.
Shyam Soundararajan is a high school student from Dubai, UAE. His research interests include economic development, poverty and wealth inequality. He has published articles in the Harvard International Review and has contributed vastly to his school’s social science curriculum. Shyam aspires to major in Mathematical Economics with a minor in South Asian Studies.
Aneesha Chitgupi is a research fellow at the XKDR-Forum -Chennai Mathematical Institute. She received her PhD in 2020 from Institute for Social and Economic Change affiliated to University of Mysore. Her thesis analysed the economic determinants of India’s external stabilisation under the balance of payments framework. Her current research interests are public finance, government debt and liabilities management.
In her book fellow YSI member Birsen Filip makes an important and timely contribution by telling the story of neoliberalism and its dramatic rise over the past four decades. She traces its impact on our contemporary way of living, thinking, and being and in so doing demonstrates its elevation to a near law of nature that permeates nearly every aspect of our society. Many of us will be familiar with many aspects she touches upon, but it is galvanizing to see how deeply neo-liberal thinking has penetrated and reshaped our way of being.
Birsen starts by expounding the pillar upon which neo-liberal thinking rests: negative freedom (chapters 2 and 3). Friedrich Hayek and Friedman developed the idea of negative freedom by defining it as ‘freedom from coercion’ – the liberty to consume, produce and exchange voluntarily – which stands in contrast to positive freedom (i.e. improving individual self-determination by investing in individuals, communities, environments by the government). It purports that economic freedom in the marketplace (‘freedom to choose’) is a precondition for political and civic freedom (‘right to assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of religion’ etc). A threat or coercion on economic freedom would mean an infringement on political freedom as well. This expresses itself in the primacy of the marketplace, free individual choice, free fluctuation of prices and not allowing the government or any central entity to infringe on this economic freedom for an apparent collective good (freedom from coercion).
How this concept of freedom limits the scope of government is treated in chapter 4. Chapter 5 treats the rise of transnational corporations which have been able to take advantage of an ever-increasing scope of the market. In chapters 6 and 7 we vividly see the effect of mass consumption culture on the environment. How private interest stands over public interest in innovation policies is described in chapter 8. Chapter 9 and 10 illustrate the decline of unions and organized labor and the rise of inequality, and chapter 11 the decline of moral and ethical values. In chapter 12, Birsen returns to the realm of ideas to show how neo-liberal thinking has become entrenched with the academy.
At the core of the book’s message, Birsen demonstrates a disastrous paradox: the supposed freedom which neo-liberalism promotes is indeed a trap. What Birsen describes is a vortex in which more and more spheres of our lives become caught in. ‘Freedom from’ indeed is not indeed liberating. On the contrary, it is contributing to the decline of freedom; it imprisons and destroys our capacity for imagining alternative pathways and collective action and in doing so it destroys our ability as individuals and societies to confront our problems. We can all sense the writing on that wall, namely the steady decline and destruction of societies and our environment, and yes, of individual freedom.
What the book offers is how deeply neo-liberal ideas have taken hold of our thinking and penetrated how we perceive ourselves as individuals, how we relate with others. Moreso, it offers a glimpse of how we are eroding our social fabric and destroying our environment by extending the sphere of the market to nearly anything and exploiting the resources of our environment. More deeply it also sheds light on the current malaise and inability to address our global challenges since neo-liberal thinking discounts the ability of collective action (state and unions).
Birsen offers a hopeful plea that recognizing these entrappings which we all intuitively sense may help lead to a change in mindset and an affirmation vision of our global society and the environment in which we live: Positive freedom.
Birsen Filipholds a Ph.D. in philosophy and master’s degrees in economics and philosophy. She has published numerous articles and chapters on a range of topics, including political philosophy, geopolitics, and the history of economic thought, with a focus on the Austrian School of Economics and the German Historical School of Economics.
Jay Pocklington is the Manager of the Institute for New Economic Thinking’s Young Scholars Initiative (YSI). He received B.Sc. and M.Sc degrees in economics from Freie Universität Berlin.
Every so often, we highlight one of the members of the YSI community to share their story and aspirations. Today we cover Petronella Munhenzva, coordinator of the Africa Working Group. This year, Petronella is launching not just a book but also a foundation to support students in Gokwe (Zimbabwe) where she grew up. We talked to her about her hopes, dreams, and where she got the courage to dream.
What led you to decide to write From Gokwe to Oxford?
During my first couple of weeks at Oxford, an American girl came up to me and asked me where I was from. So I told her I’m from Zimbabwe and immediately she went “oh, from Harare I guess?” When I told her no, she thought that was very impressive. The whole interaction was a bit odd to me, but I didn’t think too much of it.
But then those conversations kept on repeating. It turned out I was the only black graduate student at my college, and every time I got questions about my background, everyone was taken aback. They thought I must be a princess. Or a diplomat’s daughter who went to private school in the US.
So I realized I had a choice to make. One option was to go along with the expectations that people had and walk around like an African princess. And I wouldn’t be the first! I know people who tweak their accent and might even lie about what their parents do. But it wouldn’t be the truth, and it would deny the fact that there is real talent and potential in places like Gokwe. It would perpetuate the divide between those who have resources and those who don’t.
So I decided to embrace my story and explain that YES, someone who went to school in a forgotten part of Zimbabwe can go straight to Oxford.Because guess what? People there are smart and talented, too! Both the people at Oxford and the people in Gokwe should realize that.
Tell us about the foundation.
I realized the book would be a starting point; a way to rekindle hopes and dreams. But real resources are needed, too. Gokwe is one of the least developed areas in Zimbabwe. Leaking roofs. Potholes in the road. No money for school. I was there again in December and talked with some of my friends that I met growing up and went to school with. And we just reflected on this sense that most people can never get out of there. So the first thing to do is to believe that things can get better; that’s what the book is for. The second thing is to make them better; that’s where the foundation comes in.
My long term vision is to pay for as many kids’ school fees as possible. And it doesn’t take much! I went to six different schools in Gokwe and guess how much the most expensive one was? 15 US dollars per term. Same with uniforms. They’re made of fabric that’s about 80 cents a meter, so with three dollars you have a uniform. So I want to make sure children stay in school, they have the basic materials they need, and give them access to projects that can develop their talents.
These are simple things. But they make the biggest difference in the world. Once, when I was working as a substitute teacher at my old school, we took a few students for a football tournament. And in our area, all the roads would be gravel with potholes everywhere – just terrible infrastructure. But when we got to a tarred road, one of my students suddenly started screaming. He was just SO excited to play football at a better facility for once. It looked like it was the best day of his life. But that was it. After one fun day everyone goes back home and the cycle continues.
And this keeps their dreams very limited. If you ask a Gokwe student what they want to be when they grow up, many of them just laugh. They don’t even know what you’re talking about! All they know is that when they grow up, they’re going to farm. Like their parents, with their cattle, have their crops. And there’s nothing wrong with being a farmer! But it should be a choice – not the only option.
But when you were little, there was no Petronella to help you! Who was your source of encouragement and support?
My parents – they are the best people in the world. We never really had much growing up but my dad Ronald was a high school teacher at a Gokwe school, and he was always talking about how important education is. He would make sure that you studied. He understood the value of education and working hard. He made sure you got your homework done. And he was extremely supportive of my dreams.
I remember one time when I was in primary school, my teacher told him I’d been doing well at English. So he picked up on that and started telling me I could become an English major! But he didn’t just say that. He started calling me “his English major.” And then when I got older, I wanted to become a lawyer. And he responded by calling me advocate. I was his “Advocate P!”. Then at another instance I decided I would apply for an exchange program with Sweden and after telling him about it, guess what he called me? Sister Sweden! And when I said I’d apply to Oxford? His Oxford Grad. Every time, he crystalized my dreams for me, and made them real before I’d even started. It’s a superpower.
October 2021 will bring not only the publication of From Gokwe to Oxford but also the launch of the Petronella Munhenzva Foundation. Learn more and become a supporter hereor contribute via the GoFundMe campaign.
What keeps you going when you are sailing against the tide, when the mainstream is against you? That was the question that INET President Rob Johnson posed at the start of the YSI Plenary. Before looking out into the world, he urged us to look in.
If you know your true purpose, he explained, you will know how to respond to the needs and challenges around you. If you don’t, you are susceptible to being tossed around by the waves of popular opinion. Our purpose can anchor our hope when the journey is difficult and the wind seems to steer us off course. It is fundamental on our voyage as young scholars.
But how do we find our true purpose? There are a few things that might help. Recounting his time as a young scholar, Rob shared that Joseph Stiglitz used to teach camaraderie, curiosity, creativity, and courage. Those are values that can serve us, and bring us closer to our purpose. Let’s take a look back at the plenary with those in mind.
Curiosity: Speakers
2020 was the year of uncertainty, posing a challenge to all of us. But as Mervyn King said: uncertainty is the spice of life. The YSI Plenary was evidence of that. When uncertainty threatened the Plenary, YSI managed to respond with curiosity. We asked: what would it look like to take this online? How might we figure out what the most pertinent questions are? How could we collaborate on that virtually?
Over the course of the event, our curiosity was rewarded with a flood of interesting questions. One that still resonates with me was from none other than Pope Francis. He asked: What place does the current economic system give to uselessness, that is, to beauty? I won’t claim to have the answer to this question. It has caused me to sit in the tension of uselessness and beauty. To make room for beauty in life and to appreciate it for its own sake.
Another theme that stood out to me was the role of story-telling. Lynn Parramore shared that the best economists are storytellers, and George Akerlof asked us to think deeply about the role of economists in society. This fueled my curiosity for story-telling as a way to bridge disciplines, disseminate ideas, construct narratives, connect history, create culture, and shape our role as economists, lawyers, sociologists, and historians.
Creativity: Plenary Website
Bill Janeway stated that innovation, and creativity, stems from trial and error and error. Being afraid of failure inhibits true innovation. Creativity arose throughout the plenary, but its most vibrant display might have been the platform itself. An interactive system, dreamed up by the YSI Management Team, coded by Entropy Fox, and designed by Hackstage became a reality through relentless commitment. Their teamwork displayed how limitless the possibilities are when developers, creatives, economists, sociologists, and lawyers (to mention a few) step out of their enclaves and use their unique perspectives to come up with solutions together!
Camaraderie: Social Island
The camaraderie within the YSI community was felt throughout. Although we were not in the same physical space, there was a closeness of spirit and a shared purpose that kept us moving in the same direction. And on Social Island, it truly shined!
Young scholars bonded over all their different interests, skills and talents. From meeting each other’s pets, to talking about chess or martial arts, we got to know the dynamic lives of YSI members (and who to never challenge to a duel). It was also the birthplace of the firstYSI Running Club, the location of Jay Pocklington’s birthday party, and a space for sharing meals, cultures, and stories. Stories about the importance of Kimchi to a Korean family; a mother and daughter sharing recipes as part of their family history; and the importance of making Carbonara the correct way! These stories brought strangers closer together.
On Social Wednesday, the island’s schedule was especially packed: During a YSI Trivia Gameshow, we all learned about the history of YSI. Lord Robert Skidelsky shared stories about John Maynard Keynes, and Rob Johnson held a music hour with songs that might encourage the YSI crew (playlist here!). And there was a true Poetry Slam, featuring Natasha T. Miller whose words resonated deeply. She was a reminder that stories have the power to change people.
Courage: Where to from here?
Courage was the fuel behind the plenary. It was what the Management Team relied on for their ideas, what participants needed to overcome their stage fright, and what all of us used to develop our list of pertinent research questions. And now that the plenary is over, we require courage again, to put our projects and plans into action.
Yanis Varoufakis said that challenging the mainstream ways of doing economics comes at a cost, but that it’s worth it. Maintaining intellectual integrity in the face of conformity will require sacrifice. There is a proverb that one must consider the cost before building the house. So we might ask ourselves: what will courage cost, and will it be worth it? Looking back on these 10 days we’ve had together, I think it is.
Whenever we doubt ourselves, we can look back and remember that 21 working groups came together, put on 200+ sessions, 20+ social events; engaged 100+ speakers, and brought over 10,000 young scholars together.
We won’t forget Nathan Oglesby’s raps before every Questions Fair; the spontaneity of Mariana Mazzucato attending a Jazz and Wine social; the storytelling of Robert Skidelksy; the genius of George Akerlof (as well as his singing!); the wisdom of Andrew Sheng; and getting to know the strange and wonderful personalities of the Management Team.
With the momentum of the Plenary in our sails, the voyage continues, we remain on course guided by our constellations of questions. What waves and winds may come next remains uncertain but as we face these challenges with camaraderie, curiosity, creativity and courage, we have the opportunity to develop new economic thinking that is free of intellectual barriers, resonates with reality and serves our global society.
About the Author: Christina Refhilwe Mosalagae is currently enrolled as a Ph.D. Candidate in the Law & Institutions program at the University of Turin. After completing her undergraduate studies in law and commerce at the University of Pretoria, she obtained an LL.M. from Cornell University in 2014. Thereafter, she completed a Masters in Comparative Law, Economics & Finance at the International University College of Turin (with distinction) in 2018. Christina became a member of the INET Young Scholars Initiative in 2018, and currently fulfills the role of coordinator for the Finance, Law & Economics Working Group.
We are so grateful to YSI’s outgoing coordinators! They were the first ever cohort, and they made the community into what it is today. Let’s acknowledge their invaluable contributions and celebrate their next moves!
We are so grateful to YSI’s outgoing coordinators! They were the first ever cohort, and they made the community into what it is today. Let’s acknowledge their invaluable contributions and celebrate their next moves! Take a look at their warmest memories, best advice, and what they’re up to now. Please join us in thanking them, and keep an eye out for them in the future! They might be a young mentor soon. Written by Mariana Campos Pastrana
Richard Itaman | For Richard Itaman, YSI’s ongoing commitment to highlighting African scholars remains an important pillar of our community. Attending the Decolonizing Economics conference in South Africa and the Economic Transformation and History of Economic Thought conference in Nigeria made him proud as he witnessed the brilliance of young African scholars being showcased at both events. We’re just as proud of Richard!
Ushehwedu Kufakurinani | Let’s say thanks to Ushe! The Zimbabwean scholar lists the Africa Convening hosted in his city, Harare, as one of his favorite memories as coordinator for the Africa working group. His advice to new members, “your response is key to your destiny. Participation is key to reaping maximum benefits.” We appreciate all the love Ushe has poured into our community.
Tinashe Nyamunda | For Tinahse, helping other young scholars has been a big motivation for his work. As coordinator, Tinashe has helped grow YSI’s membership in Africa significantly. If he had one piece of advice for new members, it’s to remember how your work will help others in theirs. We wish Tinashe good luck in all that’s ahead!
Alden Young | As coordinator, Alden organized multiple events in Africa, including the continent’s first big YSI conference at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Alden has just been appointed as a Senior Assistant Professor at UCLA in a joint appointment between the African American Studies Department and the International Development Studies department. The latter was inspired by his work with YSI! We are so happy for Alden.
Malte Dold | The ability to exchange ideas with other young scholars around the world opened Malte’s eyes to the many ways in which economic research can be conducted and was liberating for him as he gained new creative tools to perform his research. Malte believes that YSI has the power to change how economics is taught. The next step in his journey is to join the Economics department at Pomona College as an Assistant Professor. Congrats Malte!
Gerçek Çiçek | Gerçek is the true embodiment of YSI’s interdisciplinary spirit. She completed her Ph.D. in Economics at Istanbul Technical University while simultaneously doing a second master’s in Neuroscience. Her goal is to use Cognitive Neuroscience to redefine Microeconomics decision-making models so that they reflect real people and real life. We wish Gerçek nothing but the best!
Mary Kaltenberg | Mary’s biggest piece of advice for YSI newbies is to get involved in projects you are passionate about so that you can learn from scholars at all stages of their research and expand your global network. Mary will soon be starting as Assistant Professor at Pace University. Good luck, Mary, your students will be lucky to have you!
Danilo Spinola | Danilo’s biggest advice for new YSI’ers is to think of the community as a part of yourself, and of yourself as a part of the community. In YSI, there is no trade-off between the individual or the group. It’s simple – if the community thrives, the individual develops. Get involved and immersed in this organization and see where the magic takes you. We know Danilo will make magic happen!
Johannes Tiemer | In 2012, Johannes joined YSI’s first-ever reading group on Alan Kirman’s “Complex Economics.” Together with two others, he ended up attending all the sessions, and the three became the coordinators for Complexity Economics; the first-ever YSI topical working group! Through his time at YSI, Johannes has enjoyed grappling with the big questions in society, for which there are no simple answers. His advice for new members is to remember that the work might be difficult at times, and that is ok. Now that’s a piece of good advice.
Nils Rochowicz | Nils has enjoyed seeing how YSI and its members have grown together. Members from way back are now professors, and able to mentor the newer young scholars coming in. It’s a beautiful thing to see people come in, find their way, and then grow to guide others. Nils is now based at the University of Oxford. They’re lucky to have you, Nils!
Collin Constantine | “Stay hungry, stay foolish,” says Collin. This outgoing coordinator continues to push boundaries and paradigms and advises all newbies to YSI to do the same! His time with the Economic Development working group pushed his research agenda towards the direction of inequality and critical institutional economics. The next step in his journey sees him starting as a Lecturer with the Faculty of Economics at the University of Cambridge. We’re so proud!
Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven | The ability to meet people from all corners of the world with similar interests was one of the highlights for Ingrid in her time as coordinator. YSI almost became like a second degree for her because the debates she organized and participated in influenced her research and thinking a lot. Even though she may no longer be a coordinator, she continues to collaborate with fellow YSI members. We’re so grateful for that!
Jenny Tue Anh Nguyen | As coordinator for the Economic Development working group, Jenny’s interest took her to projects on energy policy, public services, World Bank loans, structural reforms, and economic growth, to name a few. She shaped YSI with unbounded energy, strengthening the community’s reach with the Asia Regional Convening in her native Vietnam! We are so grateful to Jenny, and thrilled for what she’ll do next.
Besiana Balla | Besiana is one of the co-founders of the Economics of Innovation working group, which launched in 2014! Since then, she’s helped the group grow and flourish. Currently serving the innovative start-up world from Berlin, Besiana continues to advance the field of economics, not in the least by promoting diversity and representation in the field via D-Econ. We’re rooting for you, Besiana!
Olga Mikheeva | Olga’s interests lie in governance of innovation policies, financing thereof and financial bureaucracy; comparative financial history and financing of development; national political economy of finance. Currently a Research Fellow in Public Banking at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, we wish Olga all the best!
Laurène Tran | Laurène is one of the founding members of the Economics of Innovation working group. She is now Executive Director of ACTIVE, a trade association that advocates for policies around broader access to cannabinoids. Laurene enjoys building communities and launching new ventures, which she certainly helped us with at YSI in her time as a coordinator. We are so thankful for all of her hard work!
Peter Bent | Through his time in YSI, Peter Bent has built many great friendships with people from all over the world. Seeing all the work people put into organizing events, and seeing new connections and projects come out of that has been so inspiring, he says. Peter will soon be starting as an Assistant Professor of Economics at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. We’re so thrilled for that new chapter!
Marc C. Adam | Marc’s favorite thing in YSI? The bright young scholars with full hearts. Marc has experienced the community as a group of friendly and tolerant individuals who welcome new members as they are to learn and grow with YSI. We’re so thankful for all that Marc has done!
Laura de la Villa | Laura served as coordinator for the Economic History group, but holds diverse interests within economics, including financial history, sovereign debt, capital markets, political economy, and law and globalization. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Paul Bairoch Institute for Economic History at the University of Geneva. We wish her all the best!
Aleksandar Stojanovic | Looking back on his time as coordinator, Sasa points out that “we’re all embedded in one mainstream or another that can lull our curiosities to sleep; YSI is the best antidote to that.” We can’t agree more and are grateful to Sasa for having shaped the FLE group with that approach. He’s just begun teaching at NYU in Shanghai – congratulations!
Maria Cecilia del Barrio Arleo | When we asked Maria Cecilia what her favorite YSI memory was, she said she’d have to pick the unofficial YSI party at an Edinburgh pub. Members had seemingly endless conversations about their working groups while drinking cold beer. So what’s next? Maria Cecilia will be stepping into the 2020 European Central Bank graduate program this month. Amazing!
Céline Tcheng | “I owe YSI my whole intellectual growth in Economics and Finance,” says Céline. When she was studying for her masters in economics, she explains, the content in her program left her underwhelmed and left her second-guessing her interest in the field; it was a crisis of faith. But joining YSI opened her eyes to a whole new world of economic thought and reconciled her with economics. We’re so glad we found you, Céline!
Miriam Oliveira | Miriam is grateful that YSI has connected her with an open community of scholars. The teaching of economics has a long way to go, but YSI is filling the gap for a whole generation of new thinkers. With a Ph.D. in Economics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and experience in financial stability, macroeconomics, and macroprudential policy, we can’t wait to see where she’ll go next!
Erica Aloe | Recent PhD grad, Erica, feels proud to have been a part of YSI’s mission. She credits the community with having helped her grow her academic network, and encourages all members to participate in activities, to ask questions, and to get involved! We wish Erica amazing things for the future!
Giulia Porino | Being surrounded by scholars with similar research interests helped Giulia feel supported and understood, even on the days she was struggling. YSI always helped her find the motivation to come back to her research with a renewed sense of energy and determination, she explains. “Its a support network that I feel lucky to call my friends.” We feel lucky to have you, Giulia!
Giulia Zacchia | Giulia still remembers the nerves she felt ahead of the YSI Plenary in 2016 when she was tasked to represent the Gender and Economics Working Group. She was worried about the ability to attract young scholars and researchers interested in feminist economics within a YSI framework. But as soon as the meeting started, pride took over. The room was packed with scholars ready to discuss! It proved to her that nothing is impossible if you believe in your ideas. So true!
Jérôme Lange | As a young scholar interested in the History of Economic Thought, Jérôme felt isolated and noticed that other scholars in the field did as well. He realized that they struggled to receive support from their home institutions to conduct research. This motivated him to get together with scholars in similar situations, and he became the first coordinator for the History of Economic Thought Working Group. We wish him well in all that’s to come!
Juan Acosta | The biggest piece of advice that outgoing coordinator Juan has for new YSI members is to get involved in organizing events for your working group. “It’s such an enriching experience, he says. “You’ll learn a lot while helping out other young scholars at the same time.” We’re grateful to Juan and all he’s done for YSI.
Tahnee Ooms | Tahnee Ooms is proud to be part of a community that has been able to bring together scholars and mentors from all over the world to learn from each other. Her advice to the rest of the community is to meet as many scholars as possible and learn from the different perspectives YSI has to offer while identifying your own biases. Tahnee is now based at the London School of Economics. They’re lucky to have you, Tahnee!
Guilherme Magacho | Guilherme Magacho’s favorite memory was being able to build bridges between distinct economic views and learning from people from different nationalities, with different backgrounds and perspectives. For Guilherme (and YSI!) this was a crucial way to develop new economic thinking. We’re excited to see how Guilherme will spread that approach in the rest of his career!
Rafael Ribeiro | Rafael is currently a professor at the Faculty of Economics at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil. His research interests are in growth theory, income distribution, fiscal and monetary dynamics, dynamical systems, and empirical modeling. We wish Rafael the best in his future endeavors!
Julia Torracca | Julia feels grateful to be a part of a community that is made up of members from so many different backgrounds, hailing from all corners of the globe. In her time at YSI, it became clear that having a diverse community fosters stronger learning. We’re so excited for what she’ll do next!
Daniel Munevar | Daniel is a post-Keynesian economist who hails from Bogota, Colombia. He is the former advisor to Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Vorufakis, advising him on fiscal policy and debt sustainability. He is currently based at Uppsala University in Sweden and we wish him all the best!
Francesco Nicoli | Francesco encourages young scholars to use YSI as a way to facilitate joint research. For him, there is great value in having a community with which to exchange views and co-produce scientific work. Francesco is now based at the University of Ghent; we wish him only the best!
Melissa Vergara Fernandez | For Melissa, there are too many favorite memories to just pick one. But all of them revolve around the people she met in YSI. “It’s a project with heart,” she says. Melissa is currently based at Erasmus University Rotterdam as a Postdoctoral Researcher. We wish her only the best!
Mads Vestergaard | For a lot of us, our time in YSI inspires the research we do. Mads was inspired to explore the ways in which ideology fuels economics, and how that may be criticized. Now that he is moving on from his time as a YSI coordinator, he is shifting his focus away from academia and towards art projects and philosophical writing– a truly multidisciplinary approach. We can’t wait to see what comes out!
Cecilia Rikap | Cecilia Rikap became a coordinator soon after completing her Ph.D., which coincided with a challenging time in her career to reformulate research questions. All the YSI events she participated in this time balanced the need to be a generalist and a specialist, which inspired her to reorient her research and focus on why she originally became an economist, which was to understand and transform capitalism. We know Cecilia can move mountains!
Igor Tupy | Igor is currently an Associate Professor at the Federal University of Viçosa, UFV in Brazil. His interests are in Urban and Regional Economics and Post-Keynesian perspective with a focus on the regional impact of crises and the role of money and finance on regional economic resilience. We are so excited to see what Igor does next!
Jakob Sparn | “Seeing so many people coming together and sharing ideas in a very inclusive and caring way was truly inspiring and moving,” said Jakob of the YSI Latin America Regional Convening. If the outgoing coordinator could have one piece of advice for new members to the community, it’s to soak up as much as you can from your time at YSI. Good luck with all that’s to come, Jakob!
Renan Almeida | Renan was one of the founders of the Urban and Regional Economics working group and in his time as coordinator, he was involved in lots of YSI events around the world, ranging from Budapest, Sao Paulo, Edinburgh, and Los Angeles to Belo Horizonte, Buenos Aires, and Washington DC. He is currently a Professor of Economics at the UFSJ in Brazil. Thank you for all your hard work Renan!
We are so honored to introduce to you our new YSI working group coordinators! Three for each working group, this global group of 63 is stepping in to serve the working groups for a two year term. Get to know them!
We are so honored to introduce to you our new YSI working group coordinators! Three for each working group, this global group of 63 is stepping in to serve the working groups for a two year term. Get to know them! Written by Mariana Campos Pastrana
Herbert Mba Aki | Herbert Mba Aki began his career studying law and joined YSI without a background in economics. He joined with the intention to learn about topics in macroeconomics, political economy, and development policies to support his PhD research in Political Science. In 2019, he attended his first YSI event which left him inspired after meeting bright and talented Africans who had careers as entrepreneurs, activists, artists, and policy-makers. Herbert decided to increase his involvement in YSI and saw the Africa Working Group as a space to not only make changes in his academic framework but where he could pose questions and solutions for the economic challenges faced by the region. He now serves as coordinator for the Africa Working Group.
Petronella Munhenzva | Africa Working Group coordinator, Petronella Munhenzva, grew up in a remote area in Zimbabwe that lacked government resources and access to development. This inspired Petronella to explore the impact of state policies on people’s livelihoods on a local level. Petronella sees access to opportunities and recognition as a challenge faced by African scholars, and also notices that a lot of the theories and concepts that are used to explore African topics tend to be imported from abroad. It is very important to support local knowledge and to support the works of African scholars, which Petronella works hard to do.
Geraldine Sibanda | Geraldine Sibanda first joined YSI three years ago after speaking at a panel at the YSI Africa convening in Zimbabwe and considers the Africa working group her home within YSI. She sees a challenge for the economic field in the region to be that there is little progress made into “unpacking and understanding unique country-specific and region-specific problems and creating tailor-made solutions for them.” Geraldine is currently based at the University of the Free State in South Africa.
Leigh Caldwell | Early in his economics career, Leigh Caldwell was building models of human and organizational knowledge while writing software – but he soon realized the implicit rationality assumptions he was relying on were, well, nonsense. He decided to start looking at principal-agent problems that were tied to accuracy. When presenting his insights at a workshop, he was introduced to behavioral economics literature and he realized there was a rich source of material which shined a light on the problems he’d been looking to solve. Today, Leigh serves as one of the coordinators for the Behavior and Society Working Group!
Komal Shakeel | Komal Shakeel has been a part of YSI since our beginning in 2013 and was part of the group that created the founding principles. Back then, working groups were based on regions and she set up a working group of China and Pakistan. Eventually, she realized that this approach was too broad for her interest area. Komal wanted to support and to connect with researchers around the world who were interested in behavioral economics and so the Euro-Economics Working Group was born, which eventually evolved to the Behavior and Society Working Group. She now serves as coordinator for the group.
Iva Parvanova | Iva Parvanova is a Bulgarian researcher currently based at LSE in London. A YSI member since 2016, Iva is one of the new coordinators for the Behavior and Society Working Group. Her research interests are rooted in behavioral and experimental approaches applied to understand corruption in healthcare. A dedicated researcher on this topic, the book currently sitting on her nightstand is “Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick” by Maya Dusenbery.
Rutuja Uttawar | Meet Rutuja Uttawar! Rutuja was first introduced to economics when she stumbled on “The Economic Naturalist” by Robert H. Frank, which led her to the world of Heterodox economics and eventually led her to complexity as an approach to economic thinking. She was introduced to the Complexity Economics Working Group after submitting an abstract for the Festival for New Economic Thinking in Edinburgh in 2017. She then joined as a member and organized a reading group and now serves as one of the newest coordinators for the Complexity Economics Working Group.
Vanessa de Lima Avanci | Vanessa de Lima Avanci is currently based at Ideies in Vitória, Brazil and is a coordinator for the Complexity Economics Working Group. She first became acquainted with YSI in 2017 after attending the Innovation Bootcamp in Tallin, and later attended the Latin America convening in Buenos Aires the following year as part of the Complexity Economics Working Group.
Solomon Owusu | Solomon joined YSI and the Complexity Economics Working Group after being introduced by his friend, Danilo, in 2017. The group has been able to organize many projects and been able to build a strong, open, and transparent community. As coordinator, Solomon is excited to increase activity for the working group with more webinars, research groups and reading groups!
Emi Do | Meet Emi Do, one of the coordinators for the Cooperatives Working Group who is currently based at the Tokyo University of Agriculture in Japan. Emi challenges herself not only through academia but also through trail running. She views this challenging endeavor as an excellent contrast to the arduous nature of academia. Her longest distance so far has been 115km and she’s hoping to complete a 100 miler within the next year!
Terence Tapiwa Muzorewa | Coordinator Terence Tapiwa Muzorewa first joined YSI in 2017 after attending a conference at the Free State University in South Africa. Terence admits that he fell in love with the working group! However, he has been working on cooperatives since before joining the working group and studied housing cooperatives for his PhD. Terrence is based at Midlands State University in Zimbabwe.
Soheon Lee | Soheon Lee is one of the coordinators for the East Asia Working Group and is currently based at the Korean Embassy in Japan. Soheon first became a member of YSI in 2015 and has been actively participating as part of YSI. She joined the East Asia Working Group when it was re-established in 2017 to connect with Asia-based researchers and has met great colleges, young scholars and mentors through the working group and looks forward to meeting more!
Seung Woo Kim | Seung Woo Kim’s journey to becoming one of the coordinators for the East Asia Working Group began towards the end of his Ph.D. Seung Woo became interested in the global turn in economic history, which highlighted the problematic aspect of the Eurocentric view of the discipline. This pushed Seung Woo to research the way in which the Global South engaged in global finance and the international monetary systems as well as alternative approaches to economics. He then found the East Asia Working Group to be a space in which he could pursue various of these topics.
Rachel Ganly | Rachel Ganly is a MPhil Student in the Division of Social Science at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Her work explores the effect of men’s long working hours and gendered work norms on family formation in East Asia, supervised by Stuart Gietel-Basten.
Surbhi Kesar | Meet Surbhi Kesar, coordinator for the Economic Development Working group and a crime fiction fan! Based at Azim Premji University in Bengaluru, India, Surbhi believes that research agendas need to be global in its outlook and local in its reach. Her vision for the working group is for members to play the role of community researchers who can engage with questions of development, especially now with the challenges brought on by COVID-19.
Nurlan Jahangirli | Nurlan’s interest in Economic Development stems from his childhood in Baku, Azerbaijan. He noticed the economic struggles of the regions and from a young age held the belief that he wanted to contribute to the development of the region. This belief eventually led him to economics, and after a series of adventures, he committed to the area of development. Through the current COVID-19 crisis, Nurlan has seen how fragile economies are with regard to health crises and social problems. Because of this, he sees it as important to reframe how we view the development process. Nurlan is currently based at the University of Hamburg in Germany.
Santiago Gahn | Meet Santiago, an Argentine scholar based at Roma Tré University. He is a guitar aficionado, who favors the Blues and Jazz, and also a keen songwriter. He cites Jimi Hendrix as his biggest inspiration. He is currently working on “Towards a Theory of Economic Development” as there is currently no standardized theory of Economic Development. He sees it as important to read classical economic theories from theorists such as Adam Smith and Karl Marx and to interpret them through modern classical theory.
Fernanda Steiner Perin | Fernanda first joined the Economics of Innovation Working Group at the Latin American convening in Buenos Aires in 2018. She later became an organizer as part of the Latin America Working Group and worked on projects related to innovation, which has led her to become a coordinator for the Economics of Innovation Working Group! With the current global situation as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Fernanda sees a stronger need for innovation and policies to support innovation.
Rosie Collington | When Rosie Collington joined Genetic Alliance UK’s Policy and Public Affairs team back in 2016, her role was to develop and communicate responses to policy developments in genomics, health care, and health data to patients. However, it soon became evident research in these areas within political economy and socio-economics was sparse. Rosie decided to dedicate her work to understanding the economics of health data, public sector digitalization, and health innovation and promote it widely.
Dario Vazquez | Meet Economics of Innovation coordinator, Darío Vázquez! When we asked Darío what he believes the largest challenge facing the field is, he responded: “to transform the logic of innovation processes in order to guide them towards solving the great social challenges of our time.” Dario is currently based at the UNSAM in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Diego Castañeda | Diego Castañeda takes his economic history talents beyond academia. The new coordinator for the Economic History Working Group hosts “Mancha,” a radio show which debates politics, economics, and public life (you can listen on NoFm-radio.com!) He’s also currently producing a podcast on the economic history of pandemics and covers various different eras, from the Antonine plague that ravaged the Roman Empire to the current COVID-19 crisis.
Maylis Avaro | Meet Maylis Avaro! She is a French scholar currently based at the Graduate Institute in Geneva and one of the new coordinators for the Economic History group. She has been a member of the working group since 2018 when she first participated at the World Economic History Congress in Boston.
Alain Naef | Say hello to Economic History Working Group coordinator, Alain Naef! He is currently based at UC Berkeley in the USA. As coordinator he finds it important to keep a balance in the group between quantitative and qualitative economic history.
Luisa Scarcella | Say hello Luisa Scarcella! Luisa has been a part of YSI since our early days and attended our first plenary in Budapest. She is the new coordinator for the Finance, Law, and Economics Working Group. As coordinator, she places strong importance in keeping the group representative of the different areas of interest that exist within law and economics. She looks forward to fostering a strong online community that remains tight-knit through the current crisis until it is safe to meet in person again.
Christina Refhilwe Mosalagae| Finance, Law, and Economics Working Group coordinator, Christina’s desire to build a better world began in her early days. Christina cites her Setswana mother and her Polish stepfather as her biggest inspiration. “Through their love, sacrifice, and an appreciation for different cultures, they modeled the type of world that I want to be a part of building.” Christina is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Turin in Italy.
Limia Trifena | Meet Limia Trifena, one of the coordinators for the Finance, Law, and Economics and a boxing enthusiast! Limia first joined YSI two years ago after meeting YSI members at a conference in Berlin. Since this chance encounter, Limia has been an active member of YSI. She is currently based at the University of Warwick in the UK.
Nathalie Marins | Meet Nathalie Marins! She is based at the University of Campinas in Campinas, Brazil. Nathalie is the newest coordinator for the Financial Stability Working Group, but comes with 11 years of experience in the field of financial stability!
Ádám Kerényi | We asked Ádám Kerényi what is the biggest challenge the Financial Stability Working Group now faces. For him, it’s the COVID-19 pandemic which has not only caused a tragic health crisis and triggered an economic downturn, but a liquidity and solvency crisis as well. These massive challenges to the financial system affect global financial stability. Ádám points out that central banks have remained crucial in safeguarding the stability of global financial markets and maintaining a flow of credit. He sees a need for continued international coordination to observe data, support vulnerable communities, and to contain stability risks.
Nicole Toftum | Nicole Toftum decided at the young age of 15 that she would pursue a career in the social sciences. Although she began her undergraduate years focused on politics, she later discovered Minsky and became fascinated with financial issues. She decided to focus on a multidisciplinary MA. During the 2018 YSI Latin America convening, she discovered the Financial Stability Working Group and joined right away and now serves as coordinator for the working group.
Magali Brosio | Magali Brosio first discovered the field of gender and economics when studying for her master’s while scrolling through Twitter. This inspired her to write her dissertation on the gender wage gap. Ever since then, her research interests have been within the field of gender and economics – both inside and outside academia. A proud feminist, Magali is one of the newest coordinators for the Gender and Economics Working Group.
Shakatakshi Gupta | Coordinator Shatakshi has always been interested in gender inequality issues, partially stemming from her own experiences with gender discrimination. Studying gender bias issues for her Ph.D., she realized that very few universities considered gender and economics a serious subject area and that there is a lack of coverage of the topic. Shatakshi believes that even though more people are acknowledging the role of economists in inhibiting gender discrimination, there is still a lot of work to be done.
Cicero Braga | Meet Cicero Braga, coordinator for the Gender and Economics Working Group. According to Cicero, the biggest issue facing the field is that there is limited literature on the topic. More data and mechanisms are needed to deal with the issues. Cicero is currently based at the University of Viçosa in Brazil.
Christina Laskaridis | SOAS Ph.D. researcher, Christina Laskaridis, is a new coordinator of the History of Economic Thought Working Group. For Christina, one of the issues facing the niche field is the lack of programs that allow substantial research on the topic. “We are a small field that has been gradually cast out from many Economics departments, and links to adjacent fields are loose.” According to Christina, this creates a challenge in securing Ph.D. programs for newcomers and a lack of career opportunities which would help push the field forward. The History of Economic Thought Working Group is a great place to get started for those interested in doing research within the field.
Julia Marchevsky | Julia first became interested in the history of economic thought while pursuing her undergraduate degree. She started questioning when it was that the world began to focus on the concept of accumulating wealth and her curiosity led her to her current research interests. Christina also notes the importance of the field as she believes that understanding the progression of economic thought allows for those in the field to be better economists. Julia Marchevsky is currently based at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil.
Marius Kuster | Meet Marius Kuster, coordinator for the History of Economic Thought Working Group. The Swiss researcher is based at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. When we asked Marius one of his secret hobbies, he told us he enjoys making music on his computer!
Maria Cristina Góes | Meet Maria Cristina Góes! Maria was first inspired to research inequality while writing her master thesis which was inspired by Michel Kalecki’s theories. Kaleckian models explore how changes in the share of income that goes to workers can impact economic activity and employment by analyzing responses from employers and workers. Maria is the new coordinator for the Inequality Working Group and is based at Roma Tre University in Italy.
Natassia Nascimento | Meet coordinator, Natassia Nascimento! She is a Brazilian researcher currently based at UFRJ in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil! Natassia lists two fellow Brazilians as her biggest inspirations. The first is her grandmother who Natassia admires for her courage and wisdom. The second is Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna, who was not only the best at what he did but passionate about it too.
Francisco Ardila | Francisco Ardila notes that interest in inequality skyrocketed after the 2008 financial crisis but peaked in 2013 with the release of “Capital in the XXI Century” by Piketty. Francisco notes that interest has become diluted by having inequality often being incorporated into other fields of economics and most research on inequality that is done today is really a by-product of research done in other fields. As coordinator of the Inequality Working Group, Francisco feels that inequality is an important enough subject to merit its own field, front, and center.
Ana Bottega | Say hello to Ana Bottega! Ana first joined the Keynesian Economics Working Group in 2018 at the YSI Latin America Convening in Buenos Aires. She is one of the three new coordinators for the group. Currently on her nightstand? A literary classic – Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. Ana is currently based at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil.
Sylvio Kappes | Meet one of our new coordinators for the Keynesian Working Group, Sylvio Kappes! One of his secret talents is writing fantasy fiction. Sylvio sees that with the current climate, it is crucial that governments do everything possible to end the pandemic; he considers austerity to be a major concern. Sylvio is currently based in Maceió, Brazil.
Lilian Rolim | Lilian Rolim first became involved with the Keynesian Economics Working Group at the Budapest Plenary in 2016 when she met economists working on similar projects. Lilian believes the field needs to adjust to incorporate pressing issues such as climate change and inequality. She also finds it incredibly important for economics to be more inclusive for researchers from diverse backgrounds. Lilian is based at the University of Campinas in Brazil.
Gabriel Aidar | For Latin America Working Group coordinator, Gabriel Aidar, one of the biggest challenges he sees is defining the focus of the group. There are many economic topics that are related to the region, but for Gabriel, it is important to create a work plan which allows for the diversity of topics to be pursued while still maintaining focus on the primary issues which the region faces today.
Giuliano Toshiro Yajima | Latin America Working Group coordinator Giuliano Toshiro Yajima hopes to build stronger academic networks within the region. While Latin American research centers and institutions are well connected to their partners in the US or Europe, they have limited ties within the region. For Giuliano, there is a lot of work that needs to be done to strengthen these connections and bolster the research on Latin American economies.
Florencia Jaccoud | Meet yogi and coordinator for the Latin America Working Group, Florencia Jaccoud. Florencia is currently based in Maastricht in the Netherlands at the UNU-MERIT and is originally from Argentina.
Maisa Ribiero | The philosopher’s role is to question and examine the impact of economic policies and instruments. Philosophy of Economics Working Group coordinator, Maisa Ribiero, gives us an insightful look into how economic philosophers examine economics. One of the focus areas is the tradeoff that comes with economic choices and the impact on human welfare and social justice. Economic reasoning and policies will always impact human welfare and economic philosophers specialize in weighing the ethics of the decisions. They also examine the impact and function of the structures that facilitate economic activity, and they ponder on possible alternatives. For Maisa, the philosopher is a critic of the theories and approaches used by economists. “The most valuable work in science proceeds from the basis of significant expertise on the part of the philosopher”
Merve Burnazoglu | After a visit to her sister’s private banking office in Switzerland, Merve Burnazoglu was fascinated by the connection between the graphs and equations she saw on the screen and how they represented wealth in “the real world”. For Merve, this sparked her curiosity as to how wealth is created or extracted in the real world and this inspired her to study economics. As an economist, she began to further question economic systems and society, which led her to her current research area in Philosophy of Economics.
Juan Melo | For Philosophy of Economics Working Group coordinator, Juan Melo, the biggest challenge economists face is to bridge the gap between “big picture” topics (such as inequality, discrimination, democracy and markets) and the methodological questions, modelling, and theory that economists typically use. The way Juan sees it, Philosophers of Economics have the unique opportunity to use their research to foster exchange between science and political economy, which may be a daunting task, but also a rewarding one.
Stefano Merlo | Stefano Merlo first became part of the Political Economy of Europe working group after presenting his dissertation at the first YSI Plenary in 2016. At the time, he was researching the account imbalances before the Euro Crisis and many researchers in the working group offered guidance, suggesting that he take a look at the EU as well. Stefano not only heeded their advice, but became more interested in the topic, and is now one of the coordinators for the group!
Salome Topuria | Meet Salome Topuria, one of the coordinators for the Political Economy of Europe Working Group! Her research background is in political economy, and she studied Political Economy of European Integration at the Berlin School of Economics and Law and is currently a PhD candidate in political science at the University of Kassel in Berlin.
Stefano Di Bucchianico | Say hello to Stefano Di Bucchianico, an Italian researcher currently based in the beautiful and historic city of Siena at the University of Siena. Stefano is one of the new coordinators for the Political Economy of Europe Working Group and is excited to set up an established schedule of activities for the group!
Aneesha Chitgupi | Aneesha Chitgupi first joined YSI while pursuing her PhD. She wanted to explore organizations that supported and encouraged new ways of research, which led her to a YSI workshop in Kolkata, India where she participated as a YSI panelist. The rest is history and we welcome her as one of the coordinators for the South Asia Working Group.
Arun Balachandran | 24% of the world’s population lives in 3% of the world’s land area in South Asia, as noted by Arun Balachandran, making the density of its population a challenge for the region. Arun points out that most of the major issues in South Asia stem from its demographic composition but its population also has the potential to be a driver for its economic growth. He points out that South Asia has begun to adopt alternative ways of thinking and believes that the spread of people-centric economic development could be the key to the region’s growth. Arun Balachandran is a coordinator for the South Asia Working Group.
Aqdas Afdal | Aqdas Afdal was already an involved member of YSI prior to becoming a coordinator for the South Asia Working Group. He first started attending our events way back in 2015 when YSI was still in its infancy! Aqdas appreciated how the working groups would bring together some of the brightest minds from around the world to generate new ideas for a sustainable, just, and equal world.
Nicolas Aguila | Argentine scholar Nicolás Aguila first became involved with the States and Markets Working Group when the group was first created in 2017, which was also how he was first introduced to YSI. He is currently based in Birmingham, UK.
Esra Urgulu | Esra’s interest in development economics, industrial policy and the role of the state started before she even began studying economics! Over the past few years, she has participated in multiple panels on these topics organized by YSI and the States & Markets Working Group. She is very excited to be one of the group’s new coordinators.
João Macalós | João first fell into his current research topic – quantitative analysis of international monetary relations – during his time as an assistant lecturer. He realized that the field was underdeveloped and eventually discovered the States & Markets Working Group after being introduced by friends and colleagues. The group touched on his research interests and he has been a dedicated member ever since.
Felipe Botelho Tavares | Sustainability is one of the most pressing issues of our time, and according to Sustainability working group coordinator Felipe Botelho Tavares, one of the biggest challenges is working to “re-orient human and economic activities towards new paradigms of prosperity” and also to focus on ensuring a lasting quality of life and environment for future generations to come. Felipe is currently based in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil at the Brazilian Petroleum Institute.
Ariel Ibanez-Choque | Meet Ariel Ibanez-Choque, one of the new coordinators for the Sustainability Working Group! He first became involved with the topic when studying it as part of his master’s degree when he became part of a multidisciplinary and international research team focusing on sustainability and natural resources in Latin America. Ariel is currently based at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in Mexico City.
Dania Clarke | Say hello to Dania Clarke, one of the newest coordinators for the Sustainability Working Group. Like many Vancouverites, Dania loves tending to her indoor plants and backcountry hiking through British Columbia’s beautiful scenery. She is currently based at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.
Kishorekumar Suryaprakash | “After the advent of neoliberalism, urban inequality has increased. Competition between global cities to attract capital have resulted in a relaxation of labour laws, environmental laws, huge tax concessions and expropriation of poor from their lands. [This has] created a major gulf between the rich and poor in cities” – Kishorekumar Suryaprakash, Urban and Regional Economics Working Group coordinator
Rafael Campos | For Rafael Campos, the Urban and Regional Economics Working Group is able to be a strong player in the exchange of ideas between young scholars around the world largely in part because of its global nature. For Rafael, this is of paramount importance since the group often addresses issues such as the role of geographic space on economic development and having members from diverse locations allows for different experiences and approaches to be heard.
Simone Grabner | We asked Simone Grabner if she had any secret talents and like many of us in quarantine, she has been working on her cooking skills! She is a self-confessed foodie and loves to whip up meals for her family and friends. She is currently based at the Gran Sasso Science Institute in L’Aquila, Italy and has become a keen cook in Italian cuisine! Simone is one of the newest coordinators for the Urban and Regional Economics Working Group.
Every so often, we highlight one of the members of the YSI community. We share their story, their aspirations, and what new economic thinking means to them. This time, we cover Magali Brosio, a young scholar from Argentina, with a wide range of professional and academic experience in feminist economics and beyond. In YSI, Magali is organizer for the Gender and Economics Working Group, and spearheads the YSI Inclusivity and Diversity Advisory Team.
What has your path been, as a young scholar?
When I was young I actually dreamt about being a surgeon! But when it was time to register for university, I ended up choosing economics. Partly because I was eager to learn from a variety of disciplines (such as history, philosophy, statistics) but mainly because I wanted to understand what was going on—in my country, in my region, and in the world. I wanted to understand the economic system and how to make things better. And I never regretted it!
Since then, it’s been a combination of academic and professional work in many countries. When I was still at the University of Buenos Aires, I started working as a research assistant for the leading employers’ organization, focusing on industrial and labor policy, Then, I moved to Turin (Italy) for a Master’s degree in Applied Labour Economics for Development. At that time, I became interested in gender and started working on that, mostly through a media platform that a co-founded called Economía Femini(s)ta.
Upon return to Argentina, I first worked for a think tank called CIPPEC, focusing on economic development. Later, I became a research consultant for UN Women. I then relocated to the US to work at the intersection of gender, human rights and economic policy in CWGL, a research center based at Rutgers University. Since 2017 I have been actively involved with the YSI Gender and Economics Working Group, first as a member and then as an organizer. Being able to discuss my research with young scholars from all over the world and hear about what others were doing, sparked in me the desire to go back to academia. This is why I am now in the UK, doing a PhD in Law at the University of Birmingham.
Although I am grateful for the path I took, it was not always easy. Not everyone viewed my “mixed background” (combining academic and non-academic experience) as a strength. When I decided to go back to the academic world, I faced some resistance when trying to prove the value of my non-academic work. But I still think that it was the right approach, both personally and professionally. What I learned outside the university actually contributed a lot to my development as a researcher. And I was fortunate enough to find a PhD program and supervisors that agree with me!
Who has influenced you along the way?
Many people! My peers at university, who spent long hours discussing a wide range of topics in economics sometimes taught me more than the classroom. But also my “superiors,” although I don’t really like that word. I have been fortunate to work with amazing professors, mentors, supervisors and bosses who took the time to teach me with patience and kindness, while respecting and valuing my knowledge and treating me like an equal. In particular, Corina Rodriguez Enriquez and Radhika Balakrishnan have been amazing mentors in my (ongoing) development as a feminist economist.
What is some of the most interesting research/work you have been able to do?
As a research assistant for UN Women, I contributed to their flagship report Turning promises into action: Gender equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which allowed me to explore a wide array of topics, from gender-responsive budgeting to the impact of climate change on women living in rural areas. This was a steppingstone for me, as it helped me to gain expertise in feminist economics, and inspired my current research.
In my PhD, I now study the participation of women from the Global South in global governance, using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a case study. As legal indicators play an increasingly important role in development, I am interested in the barriers that women face when trying to engage in discussions deemed as “technical” and “nonpolitical.” I am curious how their priorities and needs are reflected in the current SDG targets and indicators.
What do you hope to see more of in the economic discipline, or what does New Economic Thinking mean to you?
In the first place, I would like to see a better understanding of how gender relations operate in the economic system. Despite the important developments within feminist economics, most of the economic analyses still ignore the gendered effects of economic phenomena or policies.
Secondly, I’d really like to see more interdisciplinary research. I’ve always thought this and now that I’m working as a postgraduate researcher within the Law School in my University, I know for a fact that there are so many valuable tools for our work that fall outside the scope of what we traditionally consider “Economics”. I have personally seen the benefits of taking courses across disciplines and institutions, of discussing research with those of different backgrounds, and attending conferences from different disciplines, and I hope that will become more common practice.
