IB graduate profile - Kevin Cowan

Graduated from United World College of the Atlantic, UK, in 1989.

"I am an economist with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington, D.C., USA. I received my International Baccalaureate diploma from Atlantic College in Wales in 1989 and recently earned a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. I have worked in Chile’s finance ministry and I am now a member of the research department of the IADB, which provides financial support to governments and other organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean with the aim of reducing poverty and social inequalities as well as fostering sustainable growth.

I decided to study economics at university mainly because of the IB course in economics I took. In fact, more than half of my classmates eventually earned graduate degrees in economics. What I found most interesting was the direct relationship between the topics we were covering in class and current events. I was able to understand the meaning of economics concepts that are often headline material, but just as often misunderstood or misinterpreted. I was also able to use some of the models and frameworks we were taught to understand what was behind much of the news.

Since the non-experimental nature of economics leads to vigorous debate concerning the interpretation of existing data and many issues involve value decisions, debate should be encouraged in economics classes. I had a teacher in the IB programme who did just that, by challenging our views on state-owned enterprises, for example. I doubt many of us would have shown as much interest in economics if our opinions had not been a valid part of the course.

The IB programme, with its emphasis on independent research, also taught me how to evaluate sources of information and relate this information to existing frameworks and theories, as well as produce a coherent text. The way I was taught economics in the IB programme made me more critical, while providing me with a series of tools which made my university years more productive and enjoyable, and which I still use on a daily basis in my work as a researcher."