Economist/Sr. Economist (Environmental) - STARE

Work for the IMF. Work for the World.

The Real Sector Division of the Statistics Department (STARE) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provides global leadership on macroeconomic statistical methodologies and standards for the IMF, its member countries, and the international statistical community at large. It supports IMF surveillance and lending operations by strengthening member countries’ capabilities to produce and disseminate macroeconomic and financial statistics for sound policymaking. STA collaborates with other IMF departments, donors, and other external partners to ensure that data needs for bilateral and multilateral surveillance and lending operations are met. Recently, STA has launched a program to develop climate change and related environmental statistics for IMF and external stakeholders’ use in monitoring the inter-relationship between climate change, economic growth, and financial stability. 

STARE has an opening for an Economist/Senior Economist that will contribute to the implementation of its emerging environmental-economics statistics work program.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The successful candidate will contribute to the development of frameworks that integrate economic, financial, and environmental-related statistics. The candidate will deliver capacity development (technical assistance and training) to member countries to strengthen the production of data and indicators on environmental economics to support country policy-making purposes as well as IMF surveillance activities. The candidate will also contribute to the update of conceptual standards and the development of a forward-looking research agenda to develop new data at the intersection of the economy and the environment. Potential areas of work include the development of:

• Economic activity indicators and data, such as air emissions and energy accounts, climate mitigation and adaptation expenditures, and other streams of work that tie closely to the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) Central Framework (CF) and Experimental Ecosystem Accounting.
• Measurement associated with the development of new national accounts data on environmental-related assets, such as on the recording and valuation of natural resource assets, biological assets, resource rents, depletion, carbon pricing, and carbon sequestration services.
• Cross-border related indicators, such CO2 emissions embodied in trade, and CO2 emissions from the production and investment of domestic and multinational enterprises.
• Forward-looking physical risk indicators, such as risks to population, economic growth, profits, and ecosystems, based on different climate scenarios.

Qualifications:

STARE is seeking a dynamic, highly motivated economist with proven ability to work independently as well as being effective in teams. The successful candidate would have:

• Proven experience in developing environmental-economic statistics (e.g., SEEA-CF, climate indicators) and integrating them into macroeconomic frameworks like the System of National Accounts, balance of payments, or government finance statistics.
• An advanced degree (Masters’ or PhD) in economics, statistics, or related to environment-economics as well as a good grounding in quantitative analysis.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English. A working knowledge of French or Spanish would be an additional asset.
• Strong relationship management, negotiating and influencing skills, and developing relations with national and international authorities will be critical success factors for this role.
• Strong drive for results with the ability to work on various projects under tight deadlines.
• Proficiency in using open-source software languages, such as R, Python, or similar tools to handle large, complex datasets for policy-relevant analysis. Expertise would be ideal.

Department:

Hiring For:

The IMF is guided by the principle that the employment, classification, promotion, and assignment of staff shall be made without discrimination against any person. We welcome requests for reasonable accommodations for disabilities during the selection process. Information on how to request accommodations will be provided during the application process.