Georgetown Faculty Members Bai and Monte Appointed Research Fellows for National Bureau of Economic Research
Two Georgetown McDonough faculty members, Jennie Bai and Ferdinando Monte, have been appointed faculty research fellows by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The NBER, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a private, nonpartisan organization focused on economic research and disseminating research findings to academics, policy makers, and business professionals. Fellows are recognized for their significant contributions in economic research and may hold lifetime appointments.
Bai, associate professor of finance, was recognized for her research in debt pricing and joined the Asset Pricing Program. She specializes in credit risk and liquidity risk in banking and the fixed-income market.
“The NBER appointment is an honor,” Bai said. “As a member, I will attend more NBER-organized conferences, which may help build up my academic network and grasp knowledge of the research frontier. My presence on the NBER website also will enhance readership of my working papers.”
Monte, assistant professor of strategy and economics, was recognized for his research in how the mobility of people, goods, and information shape how individuals, businesses, and economies interact at a local and global scale. He joined the International Trade and Investment Program.
“The most important consequence of being a member is the close interaction that it allows with excellent researchers,” Monte said. “This relates to the way knowledge advances: discarding bad ideas and coming up with new and better ones. The process of selection and creation of ideas is very unstructured by nature: hence, it happens much more quickly and effectively in fluid situations, like a coffee break between presentations, or when you walk towards the conference dinner. I believe that side conversations happening today are immensely valuable to research developed even years down the road. Being part of the NBER allows those conversations to take place.”