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New Msc in International Trade, Finance, and Development to Be Offered in 2008
The BSE is pleased to announce the creation of a new master program in International Trade, Finance, and Development. It is designed to equip students with the core theorical and analytical tools necessary to solve the tough policy questions of today’s globalized economies. Starting in the fall of 2008, the new M.Sc. will complement the school’s four preexisting Masters programs.
The program will be directed by Hans-Joachim Voth (D.Phil. Oxford). He will be advised by a steering committee consisting of professors from CREI and UPF: Fernando Broner (PhD MIT), Antonio Ciccone (PhD Stanford), Jaume Ventura (PhD Harvard) and Hans-Joachim Voth, all of who are also BSE Affiliated Professors.
Director Hans-Joachim Voth
The Msc in International Trade, Finance, and Development focuses on key policy issues: What can be done to avoid financial crises? How can development and growth in the Third World be accelerated, and made to ensure that the poorest benefit the most? Is trade the right road to riches? Professor Voth says that the program was started “to meet the enormous demand for young professionals equipped with both the theoretical tools and the analytical capabilities necessary to generate viable solutions to difficult policy questions in international finance, trade, and development. What we want to do is to offer talented young professionals a results-oriented, policy-driven and demanding program that prepares them for leading positions in development banks, NGOs, investment banks, and international organizations.”
When they graduate, students will have learned a wide set of analytical tools, be able to assess the strengths and weaknesses of prominent policy proposals in development and trade, and be able to perform exacting data analysis. Says Steering Committee member Antonio Ciccone, “a key strength of the master will be the rigor with which it approaches topics. The objective is to give students the opportunity to get a research-based view of subjects that are crucial to understanding the world economy.”
One key teaching innovation is a set of policy topics, to be taught by specialists from the IMF, World Bank, the ECB, Bank of England, and NGOs. This part of the course is combined with a brief thesis, to be completed under the direction of a faculty member. The Msc in International Trade, Finance, and Development targets students with an excellent academic record who have an acute interest in policy issues, international finance, and economic development. Professor Voth, Director of the program, emphasizes that it is designed to meet the needs of those “not only want to learn how to analyze the world or do Bellman equations, but who want to think deeply and pragmatically about ways to change it for the better. The Msc in International Finance, Trade, and Development is designed to equip young economists with the tools to come up with better answers to the toughest policy questions.”
As Director of the program, Professor Voth (D.Phil, Oxford, 1996) will contribute his comprehensive expertise in researching and advising on international finance matters. He is an ICREA Research Professor of Economics at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. A former Associate Director of the Center for History and Economics at King’s College, Cambridge, he held visiting appointments at Stanford, MIT, NYU, and Princeton. Professor Voth is a member of the Centre for Research in International Economics (CREI), a Research Fellow in the International Macro Program at the CEPR (London), and a former winner of the Leverhulme Award for Outstanding Economists under the age of 36.
Steering Committee Member Antonio Ciccone
Steering Committee member Antonio Ciccone received his PhD from Stanford University in 1994. He has taught graduate courses in economic development at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, London Business School, Stanford University, and the University of California at Berkeley. Since 2004 he is ICREA Research Professor at UPF. Professor Ciccone is also a Research Associate of CREI, a Research Fellow of the CEPR and CESifo, and one of the editors of The Economic Journal.
Steering Committee Member Jaume Ventura
Professor Jaume Ventura (PhD Harvard, 1996), another member of the Steering Committee, has been Senior Researcher at CREI since 2002. Previously, he was associate professor of economics at MIT, and has been visiting professor at the University of Chicago and INSEAD. Professor Ventura is consultant to The World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, and Co-Director of the International Macroeconomics Program (CEPR).
Steering Committee Member Fernando Broner
Steering Committee member Fernando Broner (PhD MIT, 2000) has been researcher at CREI since 2005 and professor at UPF since 2000. He has been a visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund, The World Bank, and the University of CEMA, and has been a Research Affiliate at CEPR since 2005. He received a Ramon y Cajal Fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology for the period of 2005-2010.
Find out more about the International Trade, Finance, and Development program