21-03-2022
2nd Empowering Africa - UPenn-NCID Online Workshop

The University of Pennsylvania, the Navarra Center for International Development and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia launch the second “Empowering Africa Workshop” in which top-notch international research economists will give their vision on how academic research in economics helps guiding good economic policy, as well as practical issues regarding the application process for top Ph.D. programs in Economics, to bright African undergraduate students.

The workshop’s goal is to attract and motivate top African students to pursue graduate training in economics. Possibility of funding is available for bright African undergraduate students wanting to pursue their graduate studies in the U.S., so they can acquire the skills to become the leaders of tomorrow.

Programme (GTM -4, Pennsylvania)

Monday, March 21, 2022

9:00 - 9:10 Welcome remarks. Jesús Fernández-Villaverde & Luis Ravina. 

9:10 - 10:00 What do economists do? Doing research to solve real problems (Macroeconomics). Dirk Krueger. University of Pennsylvania. 

10:00 - 10:50 What do Central Banks do? The case of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Thorsten Drautzburg & Benjamin Lester. Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

10:50 - 11:10 Break

11:10 - 12:00 What do economists do? Doing research to solve real problems (Development Economics). Petra Todd. University of Pennsylvania

12:00 - 12:50 What do economist do? Doing research to solve real problems (Applied and Empirical). Andrew Shephard. University of Pennsylvania.

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

9:00 - 10:00 How to apply for and succeed in a Ph.D. in Economics? Jesús Fernández-Villaverde. University of Pennsylvania.

10:00 - 10:30 The experience of being a PhD student in UPENN. Sara Casella, Hanbaek Lee and Ryan Zalla. University of Pennsylvania. Moderator: Ignacio Peláez-Campomanes.

10:30 - 11:30 The experience of being an African PhD student in the US. Case of success. Aissatou Ouedraogo, Christelle Zozoungbo, Kwabena Krah. Moderator: Raúl Bajo. 

11:30 - 11:50 Concluding remarks. Jesús Fernández-Villaverde & Luis Ravina.