Macroeconomic Policy and Financial Markets Program 

Sascha Bützer '11
Trainee
European Central Bank

Directorate General International and European Relations

"My tasks at ECB include the estimation of equilibrium exchange rates, contributions to the ECB’s annual “The international role of the euro” report and the implementation of a dynamic factor model to forecast economic developments in non-EU countries. In this regard, I have to give credit to the Barcelona GSE macroeconomics master for the excellent preparation to tackle the manifold research opportunities I am encountering at ECB. And to the Barcelona GSE’s reputation of equipping students with the necessary tools to do so which surely was an asset in getting here in the first place!" Eye on Alumni Feature

Ludmila Fadejeva '11
Econometrician
Bank of Latvia

"My main responsibilities are developing and use of research models in the analysis of different aspects of Latvian and European economies. Most recent research projects are development of medium size Bayesian VAR models for short-term forecasting, analysis of price setting behaviour in Latvia, and development and Bayesian estimation of Latvian DSGE model with housing sector and financial frictions. Current projects include analysis of labour market mobility in Latvia, and total factor productivity and output gap evaluation."

Antoni Targa '11
Trainee
European Central Bank
Directorate General Economics

"With changes in interest rates, international agreements with the Federal Reserve and other central banks, the turnover of Jean-Claude Trichet by Mario Draghi, the evolution of the debt crisis, all the hearsay regarding sustainability of the status quo and a context of increased social sensitivity to the relevance of macroeconomic policy—the last months have been particularly intense inside the ECB. I consider myself lucky to witness the current evolution of European fiscal and monetary policies, and I am grateful to the Barcelona GSE professors who helped me achieve this goal." Eye on Alumni Feature

"Right now I am conducting an impact analysis for the entire organization. I will be calculating the effectiveness of Fundación Paraguaya's programs on the elimination of poverty in Paraguay. Everything I learned last year in the master program enables me to do such analysis. In fact, this project will be an improved version of my grad project for GSE." Eye on Alumni Feature