Background/General Description
The Macroeconomic Modelling Team in the Macro, Trade, and Investment Global Practice of the World Bank produces macro-structural, Computable General equilibrium and microsimulation models for a diverse set of clients, including World Bank staff and client-country Ministries of Finance, Economics and Planning. In addition, it coordinates and provides the models that underpin the World Bank’s twice-yearly Macro Poverty outlook exercise.
The team uses country level (MANAGE) and global (ENVISAGE) CGE models to run macroeconomic analysis on a variety of topics such as climate, labor, fiscal, energy, gender, trade, infrastructure and development policies. To this end the team develops social accounting matrices (SAM) using maximum cross entropy and highest posterior distribution approaches; designs and implements policy relevant scenarios, develops the MANAGE and ENVISAGE models according to the needs of the specific client or project. The team closely cooperates with clients within and outside the World Bank both to develop a better understanding of their needs and to disseminate the modelling results as well as to train them to use or understand the modelling work and results. The team’s main outputs are policy notes, technical reports, working papers and journal articles.
In support of these efforts the team is looking for a high-energy detail-oriented short-term consultant to assist with the SAM building and CGE Analysis tasks supporting the model development process and responding to requests from the team.
Duties and Accountabilities
The successful candidate will be expected to become familiar with the MANAGE and ENVISAGE models as well as SAM building process. S/He will be expected to contribute to the model and SAM development under the supervision of a team member. A solid background in economics, including the manipulation of large data sets and advanced quantitative methods would be essential for these ad hoc assignments.
Selection Criteria
The ideal candidate will typically have:
- Ph.D. Degree or being a Ph.D. candidate in Economics or related area, with a focus on quantitative methods and macroeconomic analysis OR at least 3 years of experience on CGE modelling with a Masters degree in Economics or related area.
- Extensive experience working with CGE models, SAM building and the GAMS mathematical programming system
- Experience with statistical software (Eviews, R, STATA) would be an asset.
- Familiarity with macroeconomic and tax-policy issues especially in the context of developing and resource-rich middle-income countries.
- Proven record of published work that presents technical content to non-technical audiences
- Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment and to build effective working relationships with clients and colleagues.
If interested, please submit your application to aburns@worldbank.org,