I have both offers . How to choose?
BIS vs. MRM
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Seems fundamentally different choice. In some sense, being clear about that should help you decide. BIS is not a professorship, you will reach peace mind state in terms of economic and job security earlier than at MRM. There is something you give up in exchange for that, of course.
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You don't get a permanent contract from BIS initally. Their system is even worse than a tenure system because they may not extend your contract even if you have a very good publication list.
Why wouldn't they extend your contract? What are they looking out for? It is scary not to have job security.
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What is true? Let me guess, "It's a no brainer"? :D
Lol almost every word in that statement is false.
The BIS offers a great research environment, with a lot of research time and resources at your disposal, unique datasets, proprietary datasets, and job security. It's a no brainer.
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Access to proprietary data sets and a lot of resources are true. The rest ist false. No-brainer is preference-dependent.
What is true? Let me guess, "It's a no brainer"? :D
Lol almost every word in that statement is false.
The BIS offers a great research environment, with a lot of research time and resources at your disposal, unique datasets, proprietary datasets, and job security. It's a no brainer.
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top MRMs like Columbia etc is clearly an amazing job.
BIS can be a great job as well. But if you look at BIS research it is all empirical. There are only a few roles that will allow you to do full time research only and these are extremely competetive and already taken by insiders.
You get a three year contract initially, which is then up for renewal and then permanent. A BIS permanent contract is a brilliant job. You cant really get fired, you still get to do some economic research, you get paid like in the private sector and you get to live in Switzerland. But it will prob be very hard to move back to academia, esp if your research is not empirical.
You should also expect 50% max time for research. The reality is that BIS staff have a tremendous amount of work, and the staff numbers are limited in the BIS statue.
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Like all economic decisions it might be better to look at the life time profiles.
Peace of mind: after tenure in an MRM, you might reach the Nirvana when it comes to peace of mind.
Money: I am guessing, that might also be higher in an MRM. Better to ask BIS for the wage profile.
Option value: if you go to an MRM, there are hundreds of options (universities) once you want to change afterwards. From BIS, you can either go to central banks, IMF or WB.
Finally, BIS is a small institution. So the risks are higher, compared to the IMF. There might be only small room to move if you do not like your job.