The Bulgarian National Bank awards two scholarships a year to master's or doctoral students of Bulgarian origin. WIFO macroeconomist Atanas Pekanov, whose dissertation project deals with the heterogeneity of consumption patterns and their implications for monetary and fiscal policy in open economies, was successful in this year's competition. Pekanov was selected as one of two PhD students from a total of 27 applicants. In the first stage of the selection process, applicants had to write an essay on "The Equilibrium Interest Rate and its Importance for Central Banks Today", which was evaluated by two anonymous reviewers. In the second round, the best candidates had to defend their essay in an oral hearing before the selection committee.
Atanas Pekanov studied economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration (WU Vienna) and at University College London and has been studying for a doctorate at WU Vienna since 2017. Since the beginning of 2017 he has been working as a research assistant at WIFO in the research area Macroeconomics and European Economic Policy. His dissertation deals with macroeconomic topics. His research focuses on the heterogeneity of consumption patterns and their implications for monetary and fiscal policy in open economies.
Link: http://www.bnb.bg/PressOffice/POPressReleases/POPRDate/PR_20190228_1_EN
