Skills and Careers in Economics and Related Fields Charles BeckerDepartment of Economics, Duke UniversityKSE presentationNovember 11, 2016

Outline

1. Skills

2. Careers

3. Examples (the “A” list – women whose names begin with A)

4. Examples (the “B” – random boys – list)

Skills

1. Economic reasoning2. Econometrics3. Other statistical techniques:

a) Nonparametricsb) Bayesian techniquesc) GISd) Data mininge) Temporal and spatial autoregressive techniques

Skills

4. Computer science: a) Programmingb) “big data”/data science/scrapingc) Algorithms; especially machine learningd) Numerical methodse) Computational mechanism design/computational

microeconomics5. Data sets

a) Survey designb) Data cleaningc) Identifying interesting data setsd) Psuedo-panels and merging sets

1. Aigul from Semipalatinsk2. Andrea from Boston3. Anastasia from Moscow4. Agnese from Riga5. Anna from SPb6. Ashley from Denver7. Alla from Kazan via Portland8. Anna from Bishkek9. Akbota from Astana

Examples from my A list (Ukrainians excluded for confidentiality reasons)

Aigul Sultanbekova:teaching econometrics to CFO to opening a theaterhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/08/women-post-soviet-world-profiles

Managing DirectorTheatre BT, www.theatrebt.kzFebruary 2013 – Present (3 years 10 months)Almaty, KazakhstanGenerated the concept, inspired and launched a small modern theatre BT that aims:- to become a spot launching new unique, interesting and successful projects based on Sadler’s Wells model in London- to unite thoughtful, aspiring and permanently self-improving people - to integrate closer art into everyday life of the society not only by plays and performances but by its new division called BusinessTheatre that practically comprises the concept A2B – art-2-business

CFO, Member of the Executive BoardAsiaCredit BankJanuary 2011 – July 2012 (1 year 7 months)- Managed together with executive team to increase net income 10 times (5MM USD vs. 500K USD) and keep S&P rating on level similar to top Kazakh commercial banks at that time (AsiaCredit Bank was #28)- Expanded treasury’s activity from mainly liquidity management to profit-generating on debt capital markets (DCM), so that it started earning nearly as loan portfolio - Launched and managed tariff & acquisition committees, participated in asset & liquidity management committee(Open)1 recommendation

Head of Project Finance DepartmentAsiaCredit BankApril 2010 – January 2011 (10 months)- Assesed various project finance opportunities to the potential benefit of the Bank

- Conducted in-house strategic consulting: turnaround and further growth

AssociateTroika Dialog KazakhstanAugust 2008 – February 2010 (1 year 7 months)- Participated in teams on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) projects as well as debt capital markets (DCM), equity capital markets (ECM) and private equity (PE)- Initiated, together with London-based Standard bank with a trading floor, creation of carbon credits advisory in Kazakhstan

Andrea Coravos:McKinsey to start ups to Harvard Business School

Software Engineer - Grad School InternshipAkili Interactive Labs, Inc.August 2016 – Present (4 months)Greater Boston AreaAkili Interactive is building clinically-validated cognitive therapeutics, assessments, and diagnostics that look and feel like high-quality video games.

Co-FounderUmmoJanuary 2016 – Present (11 months)Greater Boston AreaPublic speaking is hard, Ummo makes it easier. Whether you are practicing for a presentation or interested in improving your everyday communication, use Ummo to track your 'Umms' and 'Uhhs', pace, word power, clarity, and more.Showcased by the Apple App Store as The Top 3 "Apps We Love" (Spring 2016 in the US, UK, India, and Canada), also featured in Business Insider, New York Times, LifeHacker, and more.

Software Engineer - Grad School InternshipInstacartJune 2016 – August 2016 (3 months)San Francisco Bay AreaOn the orders / payments engineering team. Projects include creating the debt reconciliation infrastructure, supporting the build of promotions and discounts, and fixing the occasional payments-related bug. Stack: Ruby on Rails, SQL, HAML, and React.js.

Anastasia Bogdanova:Consultant with Analysis Group

AnalystAnalysis GroupJune 2014 – Present (2 years 6 months)

Analyst InternKickLabsJuly 2011 – September 2011 (3 months)

Administrative Assistant InternKickLabsJuly 2010 – September 2010 (3 months)

Education: Duke University

Agnese BukovskaNational Bank, IMF, private bankingEconomistSwedbankAugust 2016 – Present (4 months)

EconomistLatvijas BankaJuly 2015 – August 2016 (1 year 2 months)

Research AssistantDuke UniversityOctober 2014 – April 2015 (7 months)

EconomistInternational Monetary FundMay 2010 – June 2013 (3 years 2 months)Riga, Latvia

Senior Desk OfficerMinistry of Finance2007 – 2010 (3 years)LatviaEuropean Union Structural Funds Department, Strategic PlanningDivision

Education: Duke University

Anna Korkunova:real estate with an international firmHead of the Branch in St. PetersburgRaiffeisen-LeasingNovember 2007 – Present (9 years 1 month)Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation

Deputy Head of St. Petersburg BranchRaiffeisen-LeasingNovember 2006 – November 2007 (1 year 1 month)Saint Petersburg, Russian

FederationProject ManagerRaiffeisen-LeasingDecember 2004 – September 2006 (1 year 10 months)

Project ManagerGlobus-LeasingJanuary 2002 – December 2004 (3 years)St.Petersburg, Russia

Ashley Yea:housing research to government housing agency researcherInternal Audit AssociateFreddie MacAugust 2016 – Present (4 months)McLean, VAData Analytics

Research AssociateDuke UniversityJanuary 2015 – August 2015 (8 months)Durham, NC• Created innovative microeconomic housing theory that revolutionized how firms behave with investment housing markets. • Developed an advanced system to effectively collect and analyze large volumes of academic paper drafts, technical reports, documentation, and manuscripts information through a relational database system. • Among the first to solve missing data issues in a three-stage least squares (3SLS) regression model with modified multiple imputation methods. • Lead interdisciplinary project work and managed project tasks through collaboration with the Data and Vi-sualization Lab and the Social Science Research Institute at Duke. • Collaborated with several top industry housing professionals to push the frontiers of new housing research and predictions • Expertise in specialty data analysis methods such as multiple imputation and principal components meth-ods. • High knowledge of continuous and discrete choice data variables, categorical variables, and interaction term variables.

Research AssistantDuke UniversityJanuary 2013 – December 2014 (2 years)Durham, NC• Collected proprietary national manufactured housing data set to perform a regression analysis using STATA and Excel. • Drafted data use agreements and handled sensitive data and have received and passed IRB Protocol standards.• Clearly communicated and translated terse and complicated academic language to industry professionals.

Alla Khalitova:national bank to consulting to PhD

EconomistOxford EconomicsJuly 2013 – September 2014 (1 year 3 months)Greater New York City Area

Associate, Global Forensics and DisputesAlvarez & Marsal2013 – 2013 (less than a year)Greater New York City Area

Graduate Research AssistantDuke University2012 – 2012 (less than a year)Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

Graduate Teaching AssistantDuke University2012 – 2012 (less than a year)Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

Anna Kirey:Public health specialist, GLBT advocate, Kyrgyzstan and USADeputy Regional Director, Campaigns – Russia and Eurasia regionAmnesty International

Enhanced Program OfficerOpen Society FoundationsAugust 2014 – August 2016 (2 years 1 month)Greater New York City AreaManaged trans and intersex rights portfolios, engaged with grantees and internal OSF structures to build trans and intersex rights as a field in grantmaking. Developed changes to the Program’s strategy on intersex rights and secured insurance coverage for trans employees through six months of advocacy with human resources. Secured additional $1,180,000 for trans and intersex work on the reform of the International Classification of Diseases.

Researcher at LGBT ProgramHuman Rights WatchAugust 2012 – August 2014 (2 years 1 month)Greater New York City Area

FellowHuman Rights Watch2012 – 2013 (1 year)Greater New York City Area

ResearcherILGA WorldAugust 2010 – September 2012 (2 years 2 months)Collected legislation on changing gender marker and access to healthcare for transgender people from over eighty countries of the world. Report on findings in progress. · Consultant, Sexual Rights Initiative

Executive Director, Advocacy officer, Senior AdvisorLGBT Organization 'Labrys'January 2005 – August 2012 (7 years 8 months)Bishkek, KyrgyzstanDeveloped organizational policies and structure, coordinate and supervise ten full-time staff in office and community center. De-signed and coordinated a research project on needs assessment of LGBT communities using quantitative data and oral history methods. Regularly speak in public on LGBT issues and human rights, liaise with media. Developed and facilitated trainings on gen-der, sexual health, survival skills, human rights documentation for LGBT and medical professionals. Designed concepts for organization’s information materials. Co-edited ten issues of ‘Labrys’ journal. Created and coordinated news lists. Networked for the organization at national and international level.

Akbota Anuarbek:computational mechanism design, scraping, and financial risk analysis

Risk Management AnalystDUMAC, IncJune 2016 – Present (6 months)Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

Research AssistantDuke UniversityJanuary 2016 – Present (11 months)Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

Junior AnalystScientific Research Company “Galym”June 2013 – August 2013 (3 months)Astana, KazakhstanParticipated in the creation of application for automating file processing for JSC Keden-transservice (Programming in Delphi)Junior AnalystScientific Research Institute of "Economics and Informatization of Transport, Telecommunications"June 2011 – August 2011 (3 months)Astana, KazakhstanParticipated in the research on improvement of the parameters of social security and as-sessment of financial stability of JSC “The State Fund of Social Insurance”

Education: Duke University Graduate School

1. Mitchel from Durham, NC2. Malcolm from Chicago3. Josh from Salt Lake City4. Sabit from Almaty5. Zhanat from Almaty

Examples from my B list (random boys)

Mitchel Gorecki: big data, machine learning, spatial autocorrelationmember, cofounderMitchel's FarmJune 2016 – Present (6 months)Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina AreaLeveraging machine learning and shared living to finding a more efficient equilibrium in the real es-tate market.

Staff Data ScientistMaxPointJuly 2013 – July 2016 (3 years 1 month)Morrisville, NCI analyze big data sets to optimize real-time online advertisement. This involves developing algo-rithms to automatically adapt and learn from past actions to make better future decisions when pur-chasing and distributing ad space.

R&D InternMaxPointMay 2012 – August 2012 (4 months)Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina AreaI constructed a spatial modeling algorithm to optimize the distribution of online advertising in real-time biding markets. My work resulted in a paper, patent, graduation with high distinction and being awarded the Allen Starling Johnson, Jr. Best Thesis and Poster Presentation Prizes.

IT InternInCommMarch 2011 – August 2011 (6 months)AtlantaConstructed websites and wrote technical manuals for commutations between IT and sales

Education: Duke University - The Fuqua School of Business

Malcolm Bonner:computational methods, finance, policy economics, Chicago FedSupervision AnalystFederal Reserve Bank of ChicagoJune 2016 – Present (6 months)Chicago, IL

Portfolio Analytics GroupBlackRockMay 2015 – July 2015 (3 months)Greater New York City Area

Commercial Lending AnalystSelf-HelpJanuary 2015 – March 2015 (3 months)Durham, North CarolinaPerform collateral cost-benefit analysis for various portfolio segments.Research lending technology, and make recommendations

Research AssistantDuke UniversityAugust 2014 – December 2014 (5 months)Durham, North CarolinaBuilt a web scrapper to retrieve contract data from Recovery.gov website.

Data Analyst Internship | Financial Market Utilities GroupFederal Reserve Bank of ChicagoJune 2014 – August 2014 (3 months)Greater Chicago AreaWorked as a member of the Financial Market Utilities team responsible for oversight of the financial derivatives clearinghouses.Created a web data retrieval application in Python to automate the public data collection process and augment the group’s data collection ability.Recruited another intern to assist in creating a database in SQL Server that combined and stored data from multi-ple public web data sources and Bloomberg.Designed an analytics Dashboard in Python to assist the examiners in assessing the market conditions of the credit derivatives market.

Josh Taylor:Bayesian techniques, building health apps, startupData ScientistMyHealthDirectJuly 2016 – Present (5 months)Greater Nashville Area, TN• Queried relational database to report critical information to account management team• Established database backup procedure to protect from data loss

InternDuke Institute for Health InnovationJanuary 2016 – May 2016 (5 months)Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area• Created a tool to identify diabetics in the Duke Medical System in need of medical interventions• Worked closely with Duke physicians to better understand the needs of patients

Research AssistantDuke Energy Initiative and BECR CenterJanuary 2015 – December 2015 (1 year)Energy Data Analytics Lab• Used propensity score weighting on power data analyzing effectiveness of energy saving program• Prepared presentation of consumer reactions to product placement for corporate executives• Performed regression analyses for an article submission to a marketing journal

InternGreylock McKinnon AssociatesMay 2015 – August 2015 (4 months)Greater Boston Area• Wrote Stata command to estimate serially correlated panel models faster than existing func-tions• Acted as a liaison between senior management and two entry-level employees• Oversaw critical data analysis tasks performed by junior staff and investigated discrepancies• Spearheaded efforts to increase office unity and improve employee attitudes

Sabit Khakimzhanovcareer in academe, banking, consulting, researchHead of financial stability and risksNational Bank of KazakhstanDecember 2015 – Present (1 year)Almaty, Kazakhstan

Board member, Head of ResearchHalyk FinanceMarch 2013 – Present (3 years 9 months)Kazakhstan

Head of ResearchHalyk FinanceFebruary 2008 – Present (8 years 10 months)Almaty, KazakhstanOrganized the unit, set up the policies, standartized the methdologies, supervised macroeconomic and fixed income research, edited research pieces, oversaw the development of informational infrastracture and the website

Assistant ProfessorKIMEPAugust 2002 – December 2007 (5 years 5 months)taught economics, headed Curriculum committee, headed Scheduling Committte

InstructorBilkent UniversitySeptember 1999 – July 2002 (2 years 11 months)Department of Economics. Taught micro, international trade, math for economists.

Research Assistant / Teaching AssistantUniversity of MinnesotaSeptember 1996 – May 1999 (2 years 9 months)St. Paul, MN

Zhanat Kurmanovfinancial supervision and bankingDirector of Insurance Supervision Department, member of the National Bank's Board of DirectorsNational Bank of KazakhstanFebruary 2016 – Present (10 months)AlmatyCentral bank of KazakhstanChairman of the Board of DirectorsKazakhstan Stock Exchange JSCMay 2012 – Present (4 years 7 months)Republic of KazakhstanBoard of Directors Memberthe Integrated Securities Registrar JSCJanuary 2013 – February 2016 (3 years 2 months)Almaty, KazakhstanBoard of Directors MemberCentral Securities Depository JSCMay 2012 – February 2016 (3 years 10 months)Republic of KazakhstanCouncil MemberCouncil for Pension Assets Management under the President of RKFebruary 2014 – December 2015 (1 year 11 months)Kazakhstan

Board of Directors MemberPension Fund of Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan JSCAugust 2009 – April 2014 (4 years 9 months)Almaty, KazakhstanPrivate pension fund, member of Halyk GroupBoard of Directors MemberKazakhstan Deposit Insurance Fund JSCDecember 2007 – January 2014 (6 years 2 months)Republic of KazakhstanChairman of the Board of Directors, Independent DirectorHouse Construction Savings Bank of Kazakhstan JSCMarch 2008 – July 2013 (5 years 5 months)Almaty, Kazakhstan

What the future may look like for economistsTorbjörn BeckerDirector of the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics and board member of the Kyiv School of Economicstorbjorn.becker@hhs.se

A few economist(?) jobs I have held• Doing research as a PhD candidate on fiscal policy, public debt

management and macro in general

• Government policy on Public Debt Management

• International Monetary Fund (IMF), macro, international economics, financial markets,…

• Director of SITE (policy oriented research institute), managing an organization

• Board of KSE, support and governance to KSE management

• Board of Sida, support and oversight on behalf of Swedish government

• What’s next?

The “macro” environment that we are part of

What will economist do in the futureNo job or career part will be unaffected by technological progress, but only part of (most) jobs can be done by computers and robots for a long time to come

• Economists will be needed also in the future but the value of different skills will change

• Computing, solving complicated equations and models, gather data are things that machines can potentially do more efficiently

• Interpreting data, creating models based on new thinking, understanding which model makes sense in a particular environment, communicating results in a clear way will be still be very valuable!

Some words of advice to be competitive in the global market

Do something you enjoy doing, work life is long and not getting shorter anytime soon (pension systems will fail otherwise)

• Invest in your ability to do independent thinking and analysis, this is the last thing we will be able to automate

• Continue learning new skills

• Learn good English

• Work on your presentation skills

• Be curious and dare to follow your instincts, I’m an old school economist and most likely wrong about what you should do

Get ready for the future

What you should know todayto succeed Peter Chernyshov, President of Kyivstar

Kyivstar todayis the

European leader in

EBITDA margin

is the leader of Ukrainian 

telecom market

is one of the most

innovative companies in

Ukraine

4500 employee

s26M users

18 years in

Ukraine32B UAH invested

• Former Math teacher

• 10+ years of experience as CEO (and 4 as CFO before)

• Good at finance and marketing

• Worked in utilities, electro-engineering,

brewing and telecom industries

Who I am?

Math is the queen 

The manager was very angry with this beginner who wanted a very high salary.

Logic is the key to success?

The beginner replied "Work is very difficult when you are a beginner. It becomes easier as you get experience."

He asked him why he wanted so much money whereas he had no experience.

Execute Make decisions and get things

done!

Have right attitude 

Treat your company as your own business

Be quickHigh information

throughput (ne tupite!)

Managers expect subordinates to 

Perfect corporate soldier

•Do you understand how P/L works?

Quick test: Are you ready to be a top-manager today?

• Do you feel the numbers?• Can you quickly read in English?• Do you understand what business-

process is?• Can you cascade the targets?• Do you understand what local optimum

is?• Do you know what 30 years old “white collars” want?• Can you tell complicated things in a very simple way?

How many YES did you have?

• You are not afraid of speaking publicly • Can you play political games?

Be prepared for the future

• Everybody can be replaced• Don't tolerate lies 

• Execute or be executed• Listen to your clients

• Be proactive

Life-long learning. Lessons 

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is

You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the

time you get it built, they’ll want something new 

The great thing about taking big chances when you’re younger is you have less to lose and you

don’t know as much. So you take big swings 

Life-long learning. InspirationYogi

Berra

Steve Jobs

Amy Poehle

r

Thank you!Want more stories?

Follow me on Facebook@peter chernyshov

THE UNIVERSITY OF TOMORROW

Get Ready For The Future: What You Should Learn Today

To Succeed

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION?

vs

EDUCATION: TARGETED

EDUCATION: MULTICHAN-NEL AND INTEGRATED

EDUCATION: EXTREME COMPETITION

“Study to learn, do not study to pass”

EDUCATION: INTEGRATED WITH THE WORLD

transformation

innovation

impact

What is KSE• Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), founded in 1996, - is a

world-class academic institution with a reputation for excellence both in Ukraine and internationally.

• KSE offers graduate programs in Economics, Management and Public Administration, producing the future generation of world-class economists and managers.

Our Competitive Edge

We give you intellectual freedom, integrity, and certainty of success

We are ahead of the curve20 years ago

today

KSE Full-time Master's Programs

One-year MA Program in Business and

Financial EconomicsTwo-year MA Program in Economic Analysis

International standards of education

Instruction fully in English Globally-trained faculty

Analytics and market-driven curriculum

Opportunity to earn degree from the

University of Houston

University of Houston Degree

Opportunities at KSE

Student Olympiad – KSE BrainChamp

Opportunities at KSEOpen Lectures

Opportunities at KSE

KSE Case Club

Opportunities at KSE

McKinsey Academy at KSE

Opportunities at KSE

Open Minds Club

Do you want to study at KSE? Register now and get updates and KSE news!

Join KSE!