Sophia Chen

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Sophia Chen

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Bibliographic details

• Authors: Sophia Chen

Biography

Sophia Chen is a Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund and Associate Editor of the IMF Economic Review. Her research interests include monetary policy, macro-financial linkages, and financial intermediation, with applications to financial market regulations. Her work has been published in leading academic journals and policy-oriented outlets, earning recognition such as the Journal of Financial Intermediation Best Paper Award. At the IMF, she has led a range of research and policy work, and extensive experience on country and regional economic policies. She has contributed to flagship publications, including the World Economic Outlook and Regional Economic Outlook, and Finance & Development. She has served as a desk economist for European, Latin American, and Caribbean economies, and as the guest editor of the IMF Research Perspective, an award-winning publication. She received her PhD and MA in economics from the University of Michigan. She holds an MLA from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BArch from Tsinghua University.

Profile

Education

• PhD, University of Michigan

• MA, University of Michigan

• MLA, University of Pennsylvania

• BArch, Tsinghua University

Editorial Activities

• IMF Economic Review, Associate Editor, 2022-present

• IMF Research Perspective, Guest Editor, 2020

Field of Expertise

• Public Finance

• Monetary Policy

• Macro-Financial Issues

• Banking

• Open Economy Macroeconomics

IMF Direct Blog Posts

• “How Artificial Intelligence Can Boost Productivity in Latin America”, with Bas B. Bakker and Dmitry Vasilyev, March 20, 2025.

• "How Stock Markets Respond to Social Unrest", with Philip Barrett, May 10, 2021.

• "COVID’s Long Shadow: Social Repercussions of Pandemics", with Philip Barrett, February 3, 2021.

• "Propping Up the Chinese Economy: Credit versus Fiscal Stimulus", with Lev Ratnovski, December 12, 2017.

IMF Publications

IMF Books and Working Papers

• The Nuanced Role of Government Credit in Monetary Policy Transmission, Working Paper No. 2026/004 , January 9, 2026

• Potential Growth and Productivity in the Caribbean, Working Paper No. 2025/157 , August 8, 2025

• What Can Artificial Intelligence Do for Stagnant Productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean?, Working Paper No. 2024/219 , October 11, 2024

• Inflation and Labor Markets: A Bottom-Up View, Working Paper No. 2024/220 , October 11, 2024

• Divergence in Post-Pandemic Earnings Growth: Evidence from Micro Data, Working Paper No. 2024/222 , October 11, 2024

• Harnessing Satellite Data to Improve Social Assistance Targeting in the Eastern Caribbean, Working Paper No. 2024/084 , April 5, 2024

• The Dynamic Effects of Local Labor Market Shocks on Small Firms in The United States, Working Paper No. 2024/063 , March 22, 2024

• Macroprudential Policy Effects: Evidence and Open Questions, Departmental Paper No 2023/002 , March 31, 2023

• Differential Effects of Macroprudential Policy, Working Paper No. 2023/043 , February 24, 2023

• Do Lenders Make Less-Informed Investments in High-Growth Housing Markets?, Working Paper No. 2021/151 , May 27, 2021

• Pricing Protest: The Response of Financial Markets to Social Unrest, Working Paper No. 2021/079 , March 19, 2021

• Social Repercussions of Pandemics, Working Paper No. 2021/021 , January 29, 2021

• Small and Vulnerable: Small Firm Productivity in the Great Productivity Slowdown, Working Paper No. 2020/294 , December 18, 2020

• Tracking the Economic Impact of COVID-19 and Mitigation Policies in Europe and the United States, Working Paper No. 2020/125 , July 10, 2020

• The Dynamics of Non-Performing Loans during Banking Crises: A New Database, Working Paper No. 2019/272 , December 6, 2019

• Debt Maturity and the Use of Short-Term Debt: Evidence form Sovereigns and Firms, Departmental Paper No. 2019/001 , February 5, 2019

• International Technology Sourcing and Knowledge Spillovers: Evidence from OECD Countries, Working Paper No. 2018/051 , March 12, 2018

• Credit and Fiscal Multipliers in China, Working Paper No. 2017/273 , December 12, 2017

• A Toolkit to Assess the Consistency Between Real Sector and Financial Sector Forecasts, Technical Notes and Manuals No. 2017/009 , June 5, 2017

• Financial Information and Macroeconomic Forecasts, Working Paper No. 2016/251 , December 23, 2016

• Does Balance Sheet Strength Drive the Investment Cycle? Evidence from Pre- and Post-Crisis Cyprus, Working Paper No. 2016/248 , December 22, 2016

• Uncertainty and Investment: The Financial Intermediary Balance Sheet Channel, Working Paper No. 2015/065 , March 20, 2015

• The Tax-adjusted Q Model with Intangible Assets: Theory and Evidence from Temporary Investment Tax Incentives, Working Paper No. 2014/104 , June 12, 2014

• Financial Constraints, Intangible Assets, and Firm Dynamics: Theory and Evidence, Working Paper No. 2014/088 , May 14, 2014

IMF Country Reports

• Colombia: Staff Report for the 2025 Article IV Consultation

• St. Kitts and Nevis: Staff Report for the 2025 Article IV Consultation

• St. Vincent and the Grenadines: Staff Report for the 2024 Article IV Consultation

• St. Kitts and Nevis: Staff Report for the 2024 Article IV Consultation

• St. Kitts and Nevis: Staff Report for the 2023 Article IV Consultation

• St. Vincent and the Grenadines: Staff Report for the 2022 Article IV Consultation

• Cyprus: Ninth Review Under the Extended Arrangement Under the Extended Fund Facility and Request for Waiver of Applicability of Performance Criteria-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Cyprus

• Cyprus: Eighth Review Under the Extended Arrangement Under the Extended Fund Facility and Request for Modification of Performance Criteria-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Cyprus

• Cyprus : Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Reviews Under the Extended Arrangement Under the Extended Fund Facility; Request for Waiver of Nonobservance of a Performance Criterion; and Rephasing of Access

F&D articles

• “The Economics of Social Unrest”, with Philip Barrett, Finance and Development, August 2021.

Selected Issues

• The Inflationary Risks of Expansionary Fiscal Policy

• Fiscal Sustainability and Natural Disaster Risks in the ECCU

• Economic Benefits from Energy Transition

• Toward More Efficient, Sustainable, and Fair Pension Schemes in the ECCU

• Labor Market Diagnosis and Policies

• Climate Change Adaptation and Resilient Investment

Other Published Materials

• “Preserving Hard-Won Monetary Policy Gains amid Persistent Fiscal Risks”, in Regional Economic Outlook, Western Hemisphere, October 2025, Chapter 3.

• "Artificial Intelligence: Risks and Opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean", with Dmitry Vasilyev, in IMF Western Hemisphere Regional Economic Outlook, Oct 2024.

• "The Caribbean: Fostering Higher, Sustainable, and More Inclusive Growth", with Camilo E. Tovar, in IMF Western Hemisphere Regional Economic Outlook, Oct 2024.

• “Rising Corporate Market Power: Emerging Policy Issues”, IMF Staff Discussion Notes, No. 21/01, March 15, 2021.

• "COVID’s Long Shadow: Social Repercussions of Pandemics", with Philip Barrett, Nan Li, IMF Research Perspective, Volume 23, Issue 2, Fall/Winter 2020.

• "Social Unrest during COVID-19", with Philip Barrett, in World Economic Outlook, "Global Prospects and Policies" October 2020 Chapter 1.

• "An Economy for All", IMF Research Perspective, Volume 22, Issue 1, Spring/Summer 2020.

• "Tracking the Economic Impact of COVID-19 and Mitigation Policies in Europe and the United States", with Deniz Igan, Nicola Pierri, and Andrea F. Presbitero, IMF Special Series on COVID-19, May 7, 2020.

• "International R&D Sourcing and Knowledge Spillovers", in IMF World Economic Outlook, "Is Productivity Growth Shared in a Globalized Economy?" April 2018 Chapter 4.

• "Monetary Policy in the New Normal", with an IMF staff team, IMF Staff Discussion Note 14/3.

Non-IMF Publications

Publications in Journals (Refereed)

• “What Can Artificial Intelligence Do for Stagnant Productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean?”, with Bas B. Bakker, Dmitry Vasilyev, Olga Bespalova, Moya Chin, Daria Kolpakova, Archit Singhal, Yuanchen Yang, 2025, Latin American Journal of Central Banking

• “Differential Effects of Macroprudential Policies”, with Nina Biljanovska, Journal of Banking and Finance, 2025.

• “Pricing Protest: The Response of Financial Markets to Social Unrest”, with Philip Barrett, Mariia Bondar, Mali Chivakul, and Deniz O Igan, Review of Finance, 2024

• “Small and Vulnerable: Small Firm Productivity in the Great Productivity Slowdown”, with Do Lee, Journal of Financial Economics, 2023.

• "The Spread of Deposit Insurance and the Global Rise in Bank Asset Risk since the 1970s", with Charles W. Calomiris. Journal of Financial Intermediation, 2022.

• “The Dynamics of Non-Performing Loans during Banking Crises: A New Database with Post-COVID-19 Implications”, with Anil Ari and Lev Ratnovski, Journal of Banking and Finance, 2021.

• "Credit and Fiscal Multipliers in China: Evidence from a political economy based estimation", with Lev Ratnovski and Pi-Han Tsai, Journal of International Money and Finance, 2021.

• "Financial Information and Macroeconomic Forecasts", with Romain Ranciere, International Journal of Forecasting, Vol 35, Issue 3, pp 1160-1174, 2019.

• "Does Balance Sheet Strength Drive Investment Cycle? Evidence from Pre- and Post-Crisis Cyprus", with Yinqiu Lu, Cyprus Economic Policy Review, Vol 12, No. 1, pp 3-27 (lead article), 2018.

• "The Tax-adjusted Q Model with Intangible Assets: Theory and Evidence from Temporary Investment Tax Incentives", with Estelle P. Dauchy, Southern Economic Journal, Volume 83, Issue 4, 2017.

Publications in Journals (Referred)

• "Social Repercussions of Pandemics", with Philip Barrett, Covid Economics, Issue 68, 2021.

• "Tracking the Economic Impact of COVID-19 and Mitigation Policies in Europe and the United States", with Deniz Igan, Nicola Pierri, and Andrea F. Presbitero, Covid Economics, Issue 36, 2020.

• "COVID-19 and Non-Performing Loans: Lessons from Past Crises", with Anil Ari and Lev Ratnovski, ECB Research Bulletin, No. 72, June 19, 2020.

Other Published Materials

• “COVID-19 and Non-Performing Loans: Lessons from Past Crises”, with Anil Ari and Lev Ratnovski, ECB Research Bulletin, No. 72, June 19, 2020.

Content in this bundle

• Tracking the Economic Impact of COVID-19 and Mitigation Policies in Europe and the United States
  • Tracking the Economic Impact of COVID-19 and Mitigation Policies in Europe and the United States (Markdown version)
  • Tracking the Economic Impact of COVID-19 and Mitigation Policies in Europe and the United States (PDF)
• Online Annex 5. Artificial Intelligence: Risks and Opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean
  • Online Annex 5. Artificial Intelligence: Risks and Opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean (Markdown version)
  • Online Annex 5. Artificial Intelligence: Risks and Opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean (PDF)