Klodiana Istrefi, Banque de France

"I particularly appreciated the team spirit among the colleagues"

On September 1, 2014, Klodiana Istrefi took up a position in the Banque de France. From 2013 to 2014 she worked at the institute as a research assistant in the team of Professor Volker Wieland. Klodiana, who was born in Albania, concentrated on macroeconomic modeling after the financial crisis, including models with financial frictions and forecasting and policy evaluation tools into the macroeconomic model database.

What are your main tasks at Banque de France?

I have two main tasks at the BdF. The first one is to conduct research, present it at international conferences and publish it in peer reviewed economic journals. In addition, my responsibilities include writing non-technical reports based on the results of my research; these reports target a broader audience interested in economics, including journalists, economists, teachers and students. The approach of sharing research work with a wide audience is part of a more general economic education policy in which many central banks adhere to. The second task is to contribute on policy work, as we call it here. This includes providing the decision makers with research-based policy analysis and advice. Although research takes the majority of my working time, both policy and research are equally challenging and important.

What do you like most about your job?

There are many things that I like about my job! Foremost, I like the flexibility and the encouragement that I am given at the BdF to pursue research. Moreover, working in a key policy institution gives me the unique opportunity to put myself in the policymakers' shoes. Often, very interesting research ideas are born when dealing with pressing policy questions. Finally, I enjoy the spirit of the team of researchers at the BdF: young, enthusiastic and international.

How is your job at Banque de France related to your work at the IMFS?

My very first task at the BdF was strongly related with the work I did as part of the Macromodelbase team of Professor Wieland. Based on my experience with macromodeling, I was assigned to be part of the research group working with the model of the ECB (the NWAM), a model that we had already included in the Modelbase. In addition, I am resuming and developing some of the research ideas that originated while working at the IMFS.

What did you enjoy most regarding your time as doctorate at the IMFS?

Looking back, I enjoyed assisting and attending the "ECB and Its Watchers" conference for several years. I particularly appreciated the team spirit among the colleagues at the IMFS; many of them now being friends and co-authors. Last but not least, the working conditions at the IMFS provided a very comfortable environment for research.