Independent Study Leads to Journal Article

Not too long ago, Ryan Pahl decided on a topic for his independent study, choosing to postulate on what Europe might look like had the United Kingdom adopted the Euro currency in the late 1990s. Last month, the 2011 graduate's work, a collaboration with Sandeep Mazumder, an economics professor, was published in the Open Economics Review. A print version of the report is also expected.

Their research included an exhaustive review of GDP and unemployment data, spanning 1999 to 2010. The duo's final determination was the the U.K. made the right call by choosing not to adopt the currency.

(Given the woes experienced by Germany right now, this may not have been as difficult a determination to discover.)


“Ryan was intrigued by ideas we discussed in international finance," Mazumder told Wake Forest writer Kim McGrath. The student "wanted to explore the hypothetical question of what would have happened if the United Kingdom had decided to adopt the single European currency. The question is relevant because there was, and still is today, a lot of pressure on the U.K. to join.”

Pahl, meanwhile, is now an associate in the global risk management analyst program at Bank of America. It seems like a fitting career path, given his interests and research.

Click here to read the full report.