Macro And Economics Research Analyst - Expectations And Career
Currently looking at an opportunity to join one of the BB's as an analyst in the AM arm doing Macro/country and thematic research. Based on the job description and interactions I have had with the team, the position would entail supporting the creation of a in-house view on asset classes in specific geographies and conducting specialized research into trends in those markets - aka investment strategy. I love research, writing, presenting, and top-down analysis so the role seems like a good fit. However, I do not know what the WLB, pay, and career advancement opportunities look like. I'd like to eventually go to B-School or get a Master's in Econ, work at an organization like the IMF or World Bank doing development finance, and then become a teacher.
I'm currently working on the buyside in a traditional investing role after a stint in banking.
Any insight into this kind of position would be appreciated.
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I'm in an economist seat on the sell-side, so not exactly the same.. but some thoughts...
Generally the economist seats have great WLB, and this goes both for buy-side and sell-side seats. The work is interesting, but I think on the buy-side a lot of it entails reading what the sell side teams are putting out and using that alongside your own models to get a sense of distribution of feasible economic scenarios. Also buy-side economists often used more as talking heads to market the asset manager towards potential investors (sell-side economists somewhat share this trait but less so).
Can't speak to pay on the buy-side but career path is where I think people tend to get stuck. Teams are lean and seniors don't leave very often, and at the same time, you aren't super focused on markets, so it can be hard to transition to a risk-taking seat if you want to do that again. But if not, these are great long term jobs that you can continue for a long time.
Grad degrees in econ aren't required but most senior level people will have them... central banking experience also quite common. If you want to do developmental econ at like IMF/WB, most jobs worth doing will need a PhD and in that case I wouldn't really recommend going down this route since it's not great preparation for doing a PhD.
Good points but I would add a few things:
1.) totally agree with everything the above poster says on economist track. While a subtle shift this role sounds more jr strategist ish which would give you more career options (doubt you’ll be heavily used on the marketing front). If your quant skills are exceptional you could try to pivot to a macro fund and if this is em focused you could join an em debt fund as a sov credit analyst. Worse WLB but still good and more comp that economist down the line
2.) It all depends on what you want to do at the IFIs and how flexible you are. If you want to go to the IFC at the WB which I would call a “balance sheet/income statement junkie” role then this would complement your prior experience if you also did an MBA and out you on a good position. If you want to do typical economist macro research like most of the IMF roles then the above poster is spot on about Phd. I would add there are more folks with just masters doing interesting macro related roles at the IFIs than you would think but these are usually very experience “sector experts” after a long tenure on buyside/sellside basically as markets experts. If you are flexible enough to consider Treasury/Fed could also sneak in with some masters in country risk/markers roles
OP here, thank you both for the response. What is an IFI, I am not familiar with this term.
IFI = international financial institution, which is a catchall for IMF, WB, Asian development bank etc.Also EM = emerging markets, sov = sovereign credit, and ifc is international finance corporation
Don't you need at least a Econ Masters for these sort of roles? Lots of senior pros even have PhDs and are essentially academics. You could argue that makes economics desks more competitive than banking in that regard
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