Ergys Islamaj Assistant Professor of Economics Box 165, Vassar College 124 Raymond Avenue Poughkeepsie, N.Y., 12604-0165 email: erislamaj AT vassar.edu   Ph.D. Georgetown University.

Research .CV .Publications .Conferences and Talks

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Profile

Ergys is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Vassar College. His reasearch is primarily on International Finance and Open Macroeconomics, both from a theoretical and an empirical perspective. Ergys has worked with financial openness, financial development and institutional indicators and has extensive experience with both micro and macro data on access to finance. Ergys received a Bachelor Degree in Economics from Bogazici University in 2003, has consulted for the World Bank on access to finance in the MENA region and at the IMF on collateral benefits of globalization in developed and developing countries.

This semester he is teaching International Trade and The World Financial System and International Monetary Theory Policy.

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Research


My research focuses mainly on the effects of financial liberalization on consumption smoothing. I develop a well-defined empirical framework and provide evidence that the actual degree of financial liberalization and the cross-country productivity similarities can explain why empirical studies fail to see improvements in consumption smoothing as countries get more financially integrated.

Latest research emphasizes a link between financial liberalization and industrial specialization, shifting the focus from consumption smoothing to risk sharing. Other research interests include financial frictions, pass-through and determinants of portfolio flows.

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Publications and Working Papers



• Financial Liberalization and Consumption Smoothing: Bridging Theory and Empirics (Under Review) pdf
  Non-Technical Appendix pdf
  

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• Why Do We Fail to Observe Improvements in Consumption Smoothing as Countries Get More Financially Integrated
  Economics Letters 100 (2008) 169–172 pdf
  More extended version pdf

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• Industrial Specialization, Financial Integration and International Consumption Risk Sharing pdf

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• Access to Firm Finance in MENA Countries: Country Level, Institutional and Firm Level Factors (with Anjali Kumar, Mukta Joshi and Vidhi Chhaochharia)
  Working Paper / Assessment Project 2007, World Bank pdf
  
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Conferences and Talks

Amherts College (MA, 2009), Ole Miss (2009), California State – Fullerton (2009), Georgetown
University (2008), Southern Economic Association Meetings (DC, 2008), MEA Meetings
(Minneapolis 2007, Chicago 2008)

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Useful

Search: Google
Data: Penn Word Tables 6.2, WDI, UN Stats, WEO
Financial Liberalization Indicators: Capital Controls, AREAER, Kaminsky and Schmukler, Chinn-Ito, Miniane, Edison-Warnock, Map of Globalization
Interesting Blogs: Greg Mankiw , Paul Krugman , Jeff Frankel