Barcelona GSE
Alumni & Friends

"I joined the Office of the Chief Economist and Competition Policy at the Office of Fair Trading right after graduation from the Barcelona GSE. I worked there for two months before moving to the group where I am now, which is called Service, Infrastructure and Public Markets. As an Economic Intern, my role is to support a team of economists and lawyers, collecting and providing evidence to corroborate and make their decisions coherent with economic theory and the current legislation." Eye on Alumni Feature

"The French government has several Regional Economic Services in developing countries to promote cooperation and provide a link with the French chairs in multilateral organizations such as the IADB or the IMF. My office is based in Panama and I am in charge of Panama, the Andean and Caribbean countries. My everyday job consists of analyzing the macroeconomic situation of these countries and addressing some more structural issues. For instance, I have been working on the impact of the international economic crisis on the region: through which channels are countries affected? To what extent are they affected? Which measures did they implement to mitigate the impact of the crisis? In order to prepare those reports for the French government, I have to travel regularly to these countries. During those missions, I meet with Ministers, Central Bank governors, economists, and multilateral organizations’ representatives to assess the situation of each country."

“Strengthening of Economic Competition and Regulatory Improvement for Competitiveness in Mexico," a joint initiative of the Mexican Ministry of the Economy and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Xavi Cabrera '09 (Finance)

Research Assistant, Department of Economy and Finance
Government of Catalonia

"I work at the DG Budget. Nowadays they are trying to improve some issues that are still pending in the budget  reform of 2006 (efficiency improvement) and my tasks are related to this. My main task is to conduct research related to policy evaluation. The challenge is to propose a model which captures the viability of policies with economic impact in order to add efficiency in the budget elaboration. I also contribute and support the daily tasks of the DG Budget and attend seminars related with all these activities."

Edward Corcoran '09 (International Trade, Finance, and Development)

Economist
HM Treasury

"I work within the Financial Regulation and Markets section of HM Treasury, the UK's finance and economics ministry. My work combines research, analysis and policy development on a range of areas related to the financial sector, including prudential banking regulation, macro-prudential tools and frameworks, and transparency and disclosure by financial institutions."

Christopher Frieling '09 (Economics of Science and Innovation)

DG Research trainee, "European Research Area Policy" unit

European Commission

"At the European Commission, I worked on the preparation of an ex ante impact assessment for a future strategic framework and an Action Plan for the European Research Area. I also had the possibility to attend many meetings, most of them inside the Commission but also in the Council or in the Parliament. Most recently I attended the ERA 2009 Conference. About 500 stakeholders of European research discussed issues of cooperation and research policy in Europe. Also two of the MESI professors, Ramon Marimon (UPF and Barcelona GSE) and Gonzalo León (UPM and guest professor in the MESI program), spoke during the conference. They are both involved in expert groups, as is Reinhilde Veugelers (KUL and guest professor in the MESI program)..." Read more

Update: Mr. Frieling now works as a Research Assistant at Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Brussels.

"I am doing research for the OHE Commission on Competition in the NHS. My work for the Commission has consisted of analyzing the existing evidence of the effects of competition on the quality of NHS services. Right after the Commission ends, I will be joining Ofgem, the UK Office of Gas and Electricity Markets. I will start work at the Retail Market division." Eye on Alumni Feature

After completing the GSE master program, Rebecca Springford (Economics '10) has returned to work at the UK Government Service, where she is currently an assistant economist in the Department for Work and Pensions. The training she obtained during the master program has given her new confidence in producing economic analysis and briefings on policy proposals for ministers and senior officials. Eye on Alumni Feature

"I currently work in the Chief Economist team of DG Competition at the European Commission in Brussels. I am very much enjoying the job. On a daily basis, I develop arguments based on solid economic theory and I carry out analyses in relation to antitrust cases."