Ph.D. Professor Linlin Niu,
Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics,
Xiamen University, China |
After obtaining a PhD in Economics from Bocconi University in 2008, I returned to China to teach and research in Xiamen University. My research areas are macro finance and applied econometrics. As I began to tune my research focus towards issues in China, I found the Bank of Finland Institute of Economies in Transition (BOFIT) an ideal place for speeding up my own "transition" process.
BOFIT provides an ideal environment to ensure high quality research: rich information services, friendly working facilities, and congenial atmosphere of research activities. Colleagues at BOFIT are real experts on China, not only on the economy, but also on the culture. For example, I was deliberately placed into one of the two visitor's offices with a "better" room number in a Chinese sense.
As a result of my time there, several research projects are in progress, including forecasting China's inflation with Bayesian model averaging, investigating the effects of RMB appreciation on Hong Kong's linked exchange rate, and tracking dynamic correlation between China and US stock market. |
Ph.D. Professor Laurent Weill, Université de Strasbourg |
During summer 2008 I spent 3 months with the Bank of Finland Institute of Economies in Transition (BOFIT). I have worked for several years on banking in transition countries. On top of which I knew BOFIT and considered it was the best place to do projects dealing with Russian banks. In particular, I wanted to work on the role of corruption within Russian banks and to learn more about the Russian banking industry from discussions with BOFIT people. It was a wonderful experience. because BOFIT is the perfect place to work. The atmosphere is impressively nice and quiet. The working conditions are wonderful. As I hoped, I have benefited from fruitful exchanges with BOFIT on my projects, which also gave me the opportunity to start projects with BOFIT researchers on Russian banks.
I have also enjoyed the possibility to assist seminars and to meet researchers from all around the world who stopped for a while in Helsinki.
Helsinki was a pleasant, compact and pleasant city in which to live. A city with a pretty centre and where everything is within walking distance, all of which added to the positive experience of my time with BOFIT: In fact the worst part of leaving BOFIT is realising that you will not have such pleasant conditions for research back home. |