WFE gives talks at two prestigious academic departments

In March 2017, Dr Stefano Alderighi, Senior Economist at the WFE, gave talks at two prestigious academic departments.

He spoke at the Department of Economics at the University of Warwick, and the Department of Economics at the University of Essex.

Both talks discussed the role and activity of the WFE to an audience of academic researchers and university students, and focused on the statistics and research production of the Research and Public Policy Department.

The presentations focused on: the WFE monthly report; the collection of a liquidity measure (the Median Simple Spread); the October 2016 publication of the WFE & Oliver Wyman report on ‘Enhancing Liquidity in Emerging Markets’; and the February 2017 publication of the WFE report on ‘SME Financing and Equity Markets’. The talks also represented an opportunity to enhance collaboration with the two departments, in particular with the University of Essex, where Stefano Alderighi obtained his doctoral degree.

The talk at the University of Warwick took place on 2 March 2017. Attendance was above expectations, and the audience was intrigued by the talk: several students contacted Stefano afterwards, interested in the WFE research topics, reports and statistics. A few even declared themselves interested in developing a third-year project on a Financial Economics topic using WFE data. Dr Stefania Paredes Fuentes, Lecturer at the University of Warwick and main organiser of the event, said: “We were delighted to hear Stefano’s presentation on the job carried out at the World Federation of Exchanges. His clear and enthusiastic explanation of the WFE’s research has inspired many of our students to pursue undergraduate projects on this topic.”

The talk at the University of Essex took place on 15 March 2017. The audience was more research oriented, and were therefore interested in understanding how taught and research topics are applied outside of the university lecture room. A few students engaged in conversation with Stefano after the talk, intrigued by the idea of working on WFE statistics. Professor Gianluigi Vernasca, academic at the University of Essex and host of the talk, commented: “Stefano delivered a brilliant lecture on the main aspects of his work at the World Federation of Exchanges. Not only did he engage extremely well with the students attending his talk, but he was also very clear in explaining technical concepts in simple terms. Not surprisingly, student feedback about his talk was excellent.”