Personal update

In the last two months, a lot has changed in my personal and professional lives. I changed jobs, from being a country risk economist at the US Exim Bank, to being an economist with CEPAL - ECLAC in Chile, and doing commerce and integration work. This change will allow me to work in topics that are more germane to "development", as I look at the interaction of commerce and social indicators of development. But this will be an uphill battle.

Some observations on my first month here: Chile is a "westernized" country (at least the capital is). I haven't found any good restaurants yet. Despite its modernized facade, the bureaucracy is immense and stifling. Competition seems to exist mainly in the marketing side of commerce, not in actual value.

CEPAL can improve how it presents information. The culture of PowerPoint is deeply ingrained here, and a lot of the workload involves created these presentations, instead of conducting original and rigorous research. Part of this seems related to lack of funding for some projects, and the need to constantly hire consultants as opposed to using the existing staff. This is particularly acute given the influx of new hires in the last year or so, and the need for a more dynamic management of their duties.

But the people here are brilliant and dedicated. I'm going to like it here.