Maria V. Sokolova
Maison de la Paix • Chemin Eugene-Rigot 2 • 1202 Geneve, Suisse
[email protected] • +1.202.372.7303 • www.maria-sokolova.com
Education
The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID)
Geneva, Switzerland
Ph.D. International Economics
September 2011- September 2016 (expected)
Washington, D.C., USA
September 2015-August 2016
Georgetown University
Visiting Fellow at Transnational Programmes
Institute for International Economic Law
St Andrews University
MSc. International Strategy and Economics (full distinction)
St Andrews, Scotland, United Kingdom
September 2009 - November 2010
Moscow, Russian Federation
September 2003 - July 2008
Plekhanov Russian Economic Academy
BA Mathematics and Economics (distinction)
Awards/Scholarships
Swiss National Science Foundation Fellow Grant
Graduate Institute Full Research Scholar
Chevening Scholar of the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO)
of the United Kingdom
September 2015 - August 2016
(2011/2012, 2013/2014, 2014/ 2015)
September 2009 - August 2010
Research
Teaching and Research Fields
• Primary fields: International Macroeconomics, International Trade
• Specialization: Currency Choice, Exchange Rates, Monetary Transmission, Trade Integration
• Secondary fields: International Development, Regionalism, Trade Governance
Papers
Strategic Currency Choice in International Trade - job market paper
Exchange Rates and Economic Growth: Re-Evaluation of Undervaluation
Trade Re(Im)Balanced
Passing on the Pass Through (joint with Natalya Volchkova(NES))
Better More than One: Portfolio Currency Pricing and Exchnage Rate Hedging
CESifo WP 5574
Teaching Experience
The Graduate Institute of Development and International Studies
Geneva, Switzerland
Teaching Assistant, Research Assistant
September 2011 - August 2015
• Graduate-level Courses: International Macroeconomics, Economic Principles, Statistical Methods
• Course Professors: Charles Wyplosz, Alessandro Missalle, Rahul Mukherjee
• Webmaster and Assistant for the Economics Department, Centre for Finance and Development
State Public School 553
High School Economics and English Language Teacher
Moscow, Russian Federation
September 2005 - August 2007
Other Employment
Washington, DC
November 2015 - now
Georgetown University Law Center
Research Assistant to Professor Michael Gadbaw
International Monetary Fund, Strategy, Policy and Review (SPR) Division
Summer Internship Programme
Joint Stock Company "Moscow Design Bureau "Compass""
Head of the Economics and Planning Department
Page 1 of 3
Washington DC, USA
June 2014 - September 2014
Moscow, Russian Federation
October 2007 - August 2011
Maria V. Sokolova
Maison de la Paix • Chemin Eugene-Rigot 2 • 1202 Geneve, Suisse
[email protected] • +1.202.372.7303 • www.maria-sokolova.com
Conference/seminar participation
Dynamics, Economic Growth and International Trade
University of Geneva, September 2015
CESifo Workshop
Venice Summer Institute, July 2015
Research in International Economics and Finance
Orleans, June 2015
Global Economic Policy CEPR conference
University of Nottingham, April 2015
Brown Bag Seminar Series
The Graduate Institute of International Studies and Development, April 2015
International Monetary Fund
Washington, USA, September 2014
European Trade Study Group
Munich, Germany, September 2014
European Economic Association
Toulouse, France, August 2014
Scottish Economic Society Annual Conference
Perth, Scotland, April 2014
Ruhr School of Economics Doctoral Conference
Dortmund, Germany, February 2014
Young Swiss Economists Meeting
Swiss Economic Society, Bern, Switzerland, February 2014
Brown Bag Seminar Series
The Graduate Institute of International Studies and Development, December 2013
References
Cédric Tille
Ugo Panizza
Nicolas Berman
Joost Pauwelyn
Michele Ruta
(Professor, Graduate Institute Geneva)
(Professor, Graduate Institute Geneva)
(Associate Professor, Graduate Institute Geneva)
(Professor, Graduate Institute Geneva)
(Lead Economist, World Bank)
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Other
Languages: Russian (Native), English (Fluent), French (Intermediate-High), German (Intermediate-High), Japanese
(Beginner)
Scientific Software: Stata, Matlab, Eviews, QGIS, R, DMX
Computer Literacy: Microsoft Office, HTML, Latex, Basic VBA, Adobe Photoshop, Moodle
Positions of responsibility
Thomas Guggenheim Foundation
Geneva, Switzerland
Coordinator
September 2014 - June 2015
Voice of Russia
Moscow, Russian Federation
External Economic Consultant
May 2013 - May 2014
The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
Geneva, Switzerland
Macrolunch Seminars organizer, Brown Bag Seminars organizer, Class representative
World Wildlife Fund Russia
Member
2010 - now
Additional Information
Date of birth: 17 April 1986
Nationality: Russian
Maria V. Sokolova
Maison de la Paix • Chemin Eugene-Rigot 2 • 1202 Geneve, Suisse
[email protected] • +1.202.372.7303 • www.maria-sokolova.com
Job Market Paper
Strategic Currency Choice
How do exporters choose currency for the invoicing of their exports? I use a new highly disaggregated firm-level
customs dataset on trade of Russian Federation between 2005 and 2009 and establish several new empirical facts.
Firstly, firms selling to the markets where there is high Russian market share or to the markets that represent
high share in total Russian exports are more likely to apply Rubles or their trading partners’ currencies. This is
evidence that more intensive trade between countries leads to higher use of their respective currencies in their trade.
Secondly, in a firm-level relationship, an exporter with higher bargaining power - as proxied by the market share is more likely to be choosing a vehicle currency - that is a currency that is not domestic to either the exporting or
importing country. Along with other results these findings support the view that strategic determinants are central
to international currency invoicing as they show that currency choice determinants are different at industry and
firm level. I discuss how these results fit current models of currency choice and the extent to which these should be
extended to account for these findings.
Other Papers
Exchange Rates and Economic Growth: Re-Evaluation of Undervaluation
I show that the regional trade integration through a Regional Trade Agreement (RTA) alters the transmission of a
country’s monetary policy towards its trading partners and results in a different impact on the country’s economic
growth. Using data dating back to 1965 for over 100 countries, I investigate the relationship between the economic
growth of a country and its price competitiveness vis-à-vis its RTA and non-RTA partners.
First, I show that the increase in the growth rate through an undervaluation can be mostly attributed to the improvement through the non-RTA trading partners. I provide both theoretical and empirical evidence that the working
channel is greater trade dependency between RTA members - along with the increase in trade flows, their exports
become more dependent on imports from each other. Higher trade dependency leads to a lower (or negative) effect
of competitive depreciation on growth, as the relative price gain on exports is partially (or fully) offset by the relative
price loss on imports. Second, contrary to the conventional wisdom that developing countries grow more through
an undervaluation, I find that this may not hold true depending on the composition of the trade flows vis-à-vis
its RTA and non-RTA trading partners. An advanced economy may grow more through an undervaluation that is
affecting the non-RTA trading partners more. This finding gives a new tool to analyse the efficacy and transmission
of monetary policy in the context of the changing global trade patterns.
Better More Than One: Portfolio Currency Pricing and Exchange Rate Hedging
This paper examines the relationship between the composition of exporters’ currency pricing portfolio - number and
value of product sales in different currencies at a destination - and their success in trade as measured by continuing
to export further on. The portfolio of currencies channels the possibility of firms to hedge against the exchange
rate shock. Utilizing the dataset of Russian exporters, this paper demonstrates that majority of exporters use only
one currency, which is in contradiction to the idea that a firm is better by using more than one currency. This
paper develops and tests theoretical model that not only indicates the diverse effect of currency pricing portfolio
concentration on success in trade, but also fits the data, by introducing the "coordination costs" of using a mix of
currencies. The analysis finds that having a completely diversified currency pricing portfolio as compared to using
just one currency at a product-destination on average increases by 20% the odds of remaining exporting at that
product-destination. Finally, this study indicates that experience of the firm makes the firms subjected less to the
diverse effect of currency pricing portfolio concentration.