Kim Flood Keeps Watch on U.S., Mexico for Bank of Canada

Many economists have found it challenging to track the rapidly evolving U.S. housing and credit crises and to factor the latest developments into their forecasts.  So it is with Kim Flood, a relatively new NABE member who is an economist with the Bank of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario.

Flood is a member of the Get Connected team and has focused on organizing the mentoring program that is soon to be offered through NABE’s new network for early and mid-career professionals.

“Dealing with the credit crisis has been challenging, especially in bridging the financial and real side economic developments together,” Flood said in a recent interview.   Her main job is to track the U.S. and Mexican economies as part of a staff of seven analysts in that division of Canada’s central bank.   She has held this position for about a year and a half.

In large measure, the credit crisis “has been worse than most forecasters initially expected,” she pointed out.  Data and forecasts released in early April by private analysts show concern that the slumping U.S. economy will eventually dampen economic growth in Canada.

Flood and her colleagues track both short-term and long-term developments in the United States and Mexico, providing updated forecasts on a regular basis. Part of her job is to develop and improve the bank’s current analysis and projection models.  Plus there are more in-depth and longer-term analytical projects that Flood works on and presentations of research to audiences both inside and outside of the bank.

Internships, Teaching Important to Starting Careers

Flood joined the Bank of Canada straight out of graduate school at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, where she earned a Master’s degree in economics.  As a graduate student and earlier in her undergraduate work in economics, she worked as a teaching assistant.

“It’s very important to talk to your professors, look for opportunities for teaching or research internships.  These can lead to career opportunities,” she said.

Flood’s interest in economics goes back to her high school years in Halifax, Nova Scotia.   “I took a high school course in economics, which piqued my interest because I saw how it applied outside of school,” she said.

In high school, she particularly enjoyed the stock market competition exercises in her economics class.  “I thought it was one of few classes connected to the real world and it made me interested in how economics would translate to the real world,” she said.

Flood said she joined NABE in early 2007 to “foster relationships and connections with other economists on issues of central importance to the global economy.”  Her membership also gives her the opportunity to gain insights by working with economists from different sectors and locations, she added.

By joining Get Connected in 2007, Flood discovered a way “to meet a range of other young professionals in the economics profession.”  She soon became a member of the organizing team and has worked with Olga Camargo, Candice Hynek, and Robert Kleinhenz to create the mentoring program as one of the key components of Get Connected.