December
Professor Ansgar Belke
Professor of Macroeconomics and Director of the Institute of Business and Economic Studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen
For our December member of the month the IAES welcomes Professor Ansgar Belke. Professor Belke is Full Professor of Macroeconomics and Director of the Institute of Business and Economic Studies (IBES) at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Since 2012 he is (ad personam) Jean Monnet Professor. Moreover, he is Research Associate at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels, member of the Adjunct Faculty Ruhr Graduate School in Economics (RGS Econ) and visiting professor at the Europa-Institute at Saarland University, Saarbrucken. Professor Belke is also an elected member of the IAES Executive Committee.
Why did you become a member of the International Atlantic Economic Society?
I became a member of the IAES to gain more insight into transatlantic research topics. It is a great opportunity to establish sustainable and reliable research relationships and exchange with U.S. and Asian scholars.
What types of projects/research are you currently working on and what inspired/motivated you to pursue these interests?
Currently, I am working on (a) Optimum currency areas (the fate of the Euro area), (b) global liquidity (less effective national monetary policies), (c) macroeconomic (monetary and fiscal) policy coordination (fiscal policy spillovers based on global VARS in order to quantify the need for a European fiscal insurance system, efficacy of unconventional monetary policies, hysteresis in trade and policy uncertainty, policy uncertainty and macro policy spillovers, and political economy (optimal path of reforms). My inspiration is based on European topics; I often derive my research questions from the European Parliament or the CEPS.
What advice would you give to someone who is considering entering your line of work/field of study?
You should be able to understand the interlinkages between macro theory, policy and empirics (data quality is often underestimated – I attach much importance to it). Meaning, you need to understand the state-of-the-art econometric techniques and use them accordingly. It is also important to have a very good feeling of how to deal with policy implications.
It is not enough to collect and use the data without understanding the deeper insight of it. You should have traveled the countries you want to research about to model the economy adequately. This can differ quite much from country to country. Moreover, you need co-authors that you can rely on and who will complement one another. Team spirit and commitment are extremely important.
Going forward, what other projects/research are you looking to or hoping to pursue?
I am looking forward to find out more about economics in Asia, like globalization and the causes of the recent slowdown in global trade in China or the Japanese exchange rate policy. A project I am really excited about is ” Crisis and recovery: Convergence as the best antidote to populism and euro-skepticism?”
What’s your favorite hobby?
I like to spend my spare time with my family or travelling. Otherwise I like sports, especially volleyball and cycling.