PhD Candidate Matteo Maggiori Chosen for Prestigious European Academic Tour

Matteo Maggiori, PhD 12, has been chosen to participate in the prestigious Review of Economics Studies May Meetings, the first time a Haas student has ever received this honor.

This “award” is given annually to the nation’s seven most promising graduating doctoral students in economics and finance in the world, who tour several European universities to present their research. In addition to Maggiori, this year’s participants represent MIT (three students), Yale, Stanford, and NYU. During two weeks in May, the group will speak at the University of Mannheim in Mannheim, Germany; the University of Leicester in Leicester, England; and Igier-Bocconi University in Milan, Italy.

The job market paper that Maggiori will present during the tour provides a framework for understanding the global financial architecture as an equilibrium of risk-sharing between countries with different levels of financial development. In the paper, he explains how this asymmetrical risk sharing has real consequences both in good times and during global crises.

In a second paper, Maggiori provides evidence of the role of the U.S. dollar as a global safe asset. He shows that the U.S. dollar earns a safety premium versus a basket of foreign currencies and that this premium is particularly high in times of global financial stress. These findings support the view that the dollar acts as the reserve currency for the international monetary system.

Although a number of Haas faculty members have been invited on the May Meetings tour in the past, having Maggiori chosen is a great honor, says Associate Dean and Professor Andy Rose. “It’s a recognition that we’re producing first-rate graduate students,” he says.

For Maggiori, it’s an excellent launch for his academic career. The list of past participants includes some of the most distinguished young economists,; many of whom went on to make significant contributions to the field. “It’s a great honor," Maggiori says.

Maggiori has been appointed Assistant Professor of finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University starting July 1 and will also hold a joint appointment in NYU’s Department of Economics. During the academic year 2012-13, he will be on leave to be a fellow at the International Economics Section of the Department of Economics at Princeton University.

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