Around 11 years ago, two leading economists who had been collaborating for years surveyed the current state of continuing education in economics and saw a large gap. There were lots of programs providing formal education. But there were virtually none offering mid-career professionals the latest tools for dealing with financial issues in emerging markets in a compact format. Specifically, there was little to help policymakers deal with the international shocks associated with a world in which every economy is linked to international financial markets and trade flows.
Discussions between the long-time collaborators and friends, Guillermo Calvo of Columbia University and Alejandro Izquierdo of the Inter-American Development Bank, led to a decision to fill that gap, to provide a one-week intensive course that revisits different aspects of macroeconomics in the context of volatile financial markets for policymakers from developing world governments, international financial institutions, and the investment banking community.
On April 22, that course will celebrate its 10th anniversary with classes running through April 26 in New York. Featuring material taught by a world-renowned faculty from academia (Pierre-Richard Agenor, Charles Calomiris, Guillermo Calvo, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, Enrique Mendoza) and from multilateral policy institutions (Eduardo Cavallo, Alejandro Izquierdo, Santiago Levy, Liliana Rojas-Suarez and Ernesto Talvi), the program will help participants deepen their grasp of macro-financial analytical issues and attain quantitative skills for managing the vulnerability of growth to external factors; international liquidity and vulnerability to financial crises; fiscal vulnerability to sudden stops; macro-prudential regulation; and banking crisis resolution, as well as other challenges.
For participants in the past, that has been an invaluable experience. Ministers, deputy ministers, central bank presidents, and chief economists from around the world, as well as senior analysts from Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and other private sector institutions, have all commented that the training was the best they had had for getting hands-on research and tools valuable to their everyday work.
If you are a practitioner interested in new approaches to monetary economics, fiscal policy responses and financial crises, we urge you to apply. The application deadline is March 8, and the IDB will be offering tuition waivers for up to 15 policymakers from Latin America and the Caribbean.
Program details regarding application and deadlines are available here.
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