Pretty Pratita ’19

Since the global financial crisis, central bankers and regulators are much more concerned about promoting financial stability. Failure in financial systems today can hurt the worldwide economy. It will be a challenge for us, regulators and central bankers, to deal with. At the Central Bank of Indonesia, I provide analysis and information to support the board of governance in decision making. But because I come from the monetary policy side, I have a lack of knowledge about the financial stability side. Yale’s systemic risk program is quite intense, and it comprehensively covers financial stability, systemic risk, and macroprudential policy. It’s designed for future leaders in the economic sector. It’s exactly what I needed, so that in the future I’ll be better in designing policies that take into account both the monetary and financial stability sides.

As an emerging market, Indonesia is very dependent on global market issues. Even though we have good fundamentals, foreign currencies really impact our markets. The tools that I’m learning in our macroprudential policy class, especially the capital flows management tools, are very relevant to Indonesia. Managing capital flows, and understanding how capital flows impact our currency and our economy, is the topic of my thesis paper.

I get a lot of precious insights from my classmates. They’re all regulators or central bankers. They come from the U.S., Mexico, India, Turkey, China, and Japan. We have very interesting discussions. They share perspectives and ideas on dealing with regulatory issues and systemic risk in their countries, and it helps me see how interconnected the markets are today. I’m planning to maintain these relationships—you never know, I may work with my classmates again, facing economic issues in the future. I’ve also gained amazing and valuable knowledge from the outstanding lecturers and guest speakers who come to campus.