Pre-doctoral Research Associate in International Economics, at The Centre for Finance and Development

**The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies is recruiting a**

**Pre-Doctoral Research Associate in International Economics, at the Centre for Finance and Development (F/M/D)**

**DEPARTEMENT/CENTRE/PROGRAM/SERVICE**:CENTRE FOR FINANCE AND DEVELOPMENT**

**CONTRACT: MAXIMUM DURATION CONTRACT FOR 1 YEAR (NON-RENEWABLE)**

**ACTIVITY RATE: 100% 40 H / W**

**APPLICATION DEADLINE: 14.08.2025**

**STARTING DATE: 1**st** OCTOBER**

**Presentation of the Institute**:
The Geneva Graduate Institute, founded in 1927, is a world-renowned centre of excellence for the study of international relations and development. Located in Geneva, Switzerland, the Institute offers a stimulating, multicultural and interdisciplinary academic environment. It offers masters and doctoral programs, and conducts cutting-edge research on major global challenges.

**Profile for the Position**:
**Requirements for the position**:
- Master’s Degree in economics;- Highly organised and capable of working independently;- Excellent written and oral communication in English (both oral and written);- Reading knowledge of German and French;- Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work with others;- Past electives in economic history or history would be an asset;- Strong analytical skills and solid quantitative background in empirical macroeconomics or international finance;- Experience in handling large datasets would be an asset;- Ability to conduct independent research in archives;

**What we offer**:
- Excellent working conditions within the CFD located at the Maison de la Paix, individual desk and computing equipment;- Collaboration and teamwork with an international team of researchers

**Project Description**:
This project aims to investigate the origins and evolution of the Eurobond market. Born in 1963 with the subscription in London of a dollar bond for an Italian company after years of sluggish international financial activity since the Great Depression, the Eurobond market (i.e., the market of international securities denominated in a currency other than the home currency of the country in which it is issued) experienced a dynamic expansion in the decades that followed the end of Bretton Woods in the early 1970s. Over the last sixty years, the Eurobond market has grown at a two-digit average rate, with tens of trillions of dollars of outstanding securities, becoming a cornerstone of international financial markets. Moreover, in the context of low interest rates and high international liquidity since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09, foreign bond issuances have flourished to unprecedented levels. However, despite its preponderant role in international finance and global capital flows, the historical dynamics and institutional foundations of modern bond finance during its early and consolidation years have eluded serious scholarly attention.

The project will pursue three specific original aims. First, it will study the creation and milestones of the Eurobond market by addressing two important questions that have not been fully explored: How was the Eurobond market established, and what factors led to its growth over time? This will be accomplished through meticulous archival research, drawing on primary and secondary sources from key market participants. Most notably, the project will explore the records and documents of the Italian company Autostrade, the first Eurobond issuer in 1963, along with archives from banks, regulators, and bondholder associations in London and the U.S. Based on original archival research, the project will provide qualitative evidence on the factors and issues that drove the emergence and evolution of the Eurobonds both at a national and international level.

The second aim of this project is to reconstruct the time series of Eurobond quotations and yields with unprecedented geographic scope and granularity, thereby producing the basis for a novel and distinctive way to assess how bonds behaved and evolved. Data will be gathered from the Financial Times, where thousands of bonds from borrowers worldwide were reported by the Association of International Bond Dealers (AIBD) in the 1970s and 1980s. The database will enable us to study the behavior and performance of the market across different countries and regions during one of the most turbulent periods in modern financial history. It will cover a period spanning the breakdown of the Bretton Woods monetary system, the two oil shocks of 1973 and 1979, and the outbreak of the international debt crisis in 1982 — the first global financial meltdown in the postwar era. Further sources, such as bank reports and the financial press, will be consulted, and archival research will be conducted to expand the dataset to the 1960s and early 1990s, covering crucial market developments during these years.

The third aim of the project is to determine who accessed the Eurobond market, when, and why, in order to engage with current debates about