E T Consultant

Job #: req12881

Organization: World Bank

Sector: Economics

Grade: EC2

Term Duration: 1 year 0 months

Recruitment Type: Local Recruitment

Location: Washington, DC,United States

Required Language(s): English

Preferred Language(s): Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish

Closing Date: 8/28/2021 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges.

For more information, visit www.worldbank.org

In fiscal year 2019, the WBG committed more than $62.3 billion in loans, grants, equity investments, and guarantees to its members and private businesses. IBRD saw continued client demand for its services and made commitments totaling $23.2 billion. IDA, our fund for the poorest, provided $21.9 billion to support countries most in need to face their toughest challenges. IFC and MIGA, our two institutions focused on private sector development, delivered about $9.3 billion in financing and issued $5.5 billion in guarantees respectively. The WBG is governed by 188 member countries and delivers services out of 120 offices with nearly 15,000 staff located globally.

The vision of the WBG is to eradicate extreme poverty by reducing the number of people living on less than $1.90 a day to 3 percent by 2030 and promote shared prosperity by fostering the income growth of the bottom 40 percent in every country.

To achieve this vision, the WBG Board of Governors approved a strategy for the organization in 2013. This strategy leverages, for the first time, the combined strength of the WBG institutions and their unique ability to partner with the public and private sectors to deliver customized development solutions backed by finance, world class knowledge and convening services.

The strategy has three components:
(1) maximizing development impact by engaging country clients in identifying and tackling the most difficult development challenges

(2) promoting scaled-up partnerships that are strategically aligned with the goals

(3) crowding in public and private resources, expertise and ideas.

The architecture underpinning the strategy and instrumental to its success is an operating model introduced in July 2014 based on 14 Global Practices (GPs) and 5 Cross-Cutting Solution Areas (CCSAs). Since July 1, 2015 these 14 GPs are organized under 3 Practice Group Vice Presidencies: Sustainable Development (SD); Economics, Finance and Institutions (EFI); and Human Development (HD).

THE FISCAL POLICY AND SUSTAINABLE GROWTH UNIT

The Fiscal Policy & Sustainable Growth Unit (EMFTX) in the Macroeconomics, Trade & Investment Global Practice (MTI) assists internal and external clients in developing strategies and balancing risks and trade-offs in their public expenditures and domestic resource mobilization efforts in order to advance the World Bank’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. As part of this mandate, EMFTX supports the development and mainstreaming of macroeconomic policies for climate-resilient, low-carbon economic growth and economic stability.

The unit represents MTI in exchanges with other World Bank Group departments on integrating climate change into the institution’s wider work in a way that supports equitable growth. EMFTX also engages with development partners and other stakeholders in the global debate on domestic resource mobilization (including the IMF, OECD and UN in the Platform for Collaboration on Tax).

The Fiscal Policy & Sustainable Growth Unit leads the Secretariat for the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action. Through the Coalition, 54 Finance Ministers are collaborating on the implementation of the “Helsinki Principles” for driving collective action of Finance Ministries on climate change and its impacts. One of these principles – Helsinki Principle 3 – is for Finance Ministries to work towards measures that result in effective carbon pricing, including the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies and increase of fuel taxes. MTI is especially involved in supporting countries in implementing this principle.

Together with the Energy and Extractives Global Practice, the Fiscal Policy & Sustainable Growth Unit furthermore co-leads the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program’s Energy Subsidy Reform Facility (ESMAP-ESRF). ESRF finances technical assistance to support pricing, policy and regulatory reforms in client countries for removing fossil fuel subsidies while protecting the poor.

The Fiscal Policy & Sustainable Growth Unit also houses the Platform for Public Expenditure Reviews and Public Finance Reviews, which supports Country Economists globally in providing technical advice to Finance Ministries on improving fiscal policy, including for the integration of climate change considerations.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The ETC will be a core member of a small team of fiscal specialists on climate and energy issues, advising Finance Ministries globally. The work program is expected to focus for about 50% of work time on climate aspects of Public Expenditure Reviews, and 50% on the Energy Subsidy Reform Facility.

Part (1) – Energy Subsidy Reform Facility

The ETC will generally support all aspects of the participation by the Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment Global Practice in the Energy Subsidy Reform Facility. This includes the following aspects.

The ETC will co-author several technical studies on macroeconomic impacts of energy price reforms.

• One study will be on overall macroeconomic lessons from ESRF-financed reform programs since 2013, including whether countries used the fiscal space freed up from reducing fuel subsidies for advancing other socio-economic priorities (e.g. raising public spending on health/education).
• Another study will be on the relation of energy subsidy reform and carbon pricing. Traditionally these topic areas are conceived as separate, meaning that even large reductions in fossil fuel subsidies are not included in carbon price estimates. The study will develop a new methodology for an integrated perspective.
• An ongoing study focuses on long-term impacts of energy price changes on the budget share of energy expenditures. The study shows gains from accompanying energy price reforms with broader policy, regulatory reforms as well as investments. The ETC will help further deepen this study, to synthesize its wide-ranging implications for energy/climate-related fiscal policy mixes.
• One aspect from the studies 2 and 3 is that the price elasticity of demand for energy can vary depending on the energy price level prior to a reform, the size of the reform, and which complementary public policies, regulations and investments are undertaken together with the energy price reform. Nevertheless, many analyses of energy subsidies and carbon prices assume that price elasticities are fixed, thus leading to potentially important misleading conclusions which underestimate the need for policy packages. To help teams overcome these problems, the ETC will undertake a meta-analysis of the large literature on energy price elasticities to derive their determinants and policy drivers.

The ETC will frequently provide technical reviews of reports in the World Bank and outside institutions which relate to energy price changes, with the aim of influencing these reports to ensure that ESRF perspectives are taken into account by other technical teams. Two of these reports will be flagship report of the Sustainable Development Vice Presidency on

(1) subsidy reform

(2) political economy of decarbonization policies including energy price reform

(3) the state and trends of carbon pricing.

ESRF seeks to increase the consideration of energy subsidy reforms by MTI macroeconomists. Achieving this requires awareness building, technical feedback, communication of best-practice lessons learned and the provision and promotion of analytical tools. To this end, the ETC will lead the organization of trainings and events on energy subsidy reform. The ETC will furthermore engage with modeling teams across the WBG to provide information to macroeconomists on tools available analyzing energy subsidy reforms and facilitate between those teams and country teams seeking support from ESRF.

The ETC will also contribute to maintaining and extending databases. This includes a large database on energy price changes, and the extension of an existing database on price elasticities. The ETC will be responsible for advising macroeconomists on databases on energy subsidies and their respective methodologies, including for tax expenditures on energy.

Moreover, the ETC will be a core team member in analyzing project applications for ESRF funding regarding their macroeconomic aspects, and helping to technically guide the teams implementing those projects.

To act on energy subsidies and mainstream their consideration in fiscal policy, it is essential for MTI to equally feature them more in its key diagnostic for fiscal policy – the ‘Public Expenditure Review’ (PER). To use synergies, the ETC will therefore equally be involved in PERs, financed by the Platform for Public Expenditure Reviews, as explained next.

Part (2) – Platform for Public Expenditure Reviews

As part of its core macrofiscal mandate, MTI economists from across country programs regularly undertake reviews assessing the efficiency, effectiveness, and equity of public expenditures and tax policies, and their adequacy and sustainability relative to the country’s development goals. These reviews form a core foundation of MTI’s advice to Finance Ministries on fiscal policy reforms and inform its policy lending operations. The Platform for Public Expenditure Reviews (below: “the Platform”) has been established as a global focal point for sharing lessons across regions on emerging best practices and providing central technical advice and support. Staff working for the Platform seek to strengthen and help further mainstream data, knowledge and innovation for greater quality, consistency and effectiveness of these reviews. This objective is achieved through a combination of reviewing and assessing current review practices, generating and facilitating access to high-quality micro-fiscal data, and developing extensive and comprehensive fiscal policy training programs, a repository of tools, guidelines and techniques at the sector level, as well as deep dives in new frontier areas. The ETC will work on a specific one of these frontier areas, climate-fiscal policy, and be a core driver of its mainstreaming into reviews of public expenditures and tax policies globally.

Technical requests to the Platform will cover a very wide area ranging beyond energy subsidy reforms to broader climate-informed fiscal policy. These wide-ranging requests are answered by a very small team. Within the team, it is possible to slightly specialize in specific climate-fiscal subfields, but due to the size of the team and simultaneity of country requests, everyone is expected to flexibly take on any task depending on business needs. This requires great flexibility and proactively working as a problem-solver. The job requires to not only have a deep technical expertise in a specific subarea of climate-fiscal policy but also good knowledge of fundamentals in almost any climate-fiscal subarea.

The ETC will frequently work together with staff from other World Bank departments, notably the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (on energy subsidies), the Governance Global Practice (e.g., on climate budgeting), and the Environment Global Practice (e.g., on Public Environmental Expenditure Reviews). A particular emphasis will be on collaborating with the Climate Change Group on how fiscal policies should best shape and implement the Long-Term Strategies (LTS) and Nationally Determined Contributions which countries are presently preparing under the Paris Agreement. This work requires strong technical knowledge of the pitfalls from evaluating public expenditures on climate purely on the basis of marginal returns (e.g., MACs) and instead requires knowledge how long-term planning should inform short-term fiscal policy decisions.

The ETC will routinely study emerging best-practices on the inclusion of climate considerations in Public Expenditure Reviews, write guidance notes synthesizing and advancing these best-practices and deliver associated trainings.

As most MTI economists are not yet familiar with climate economics, the ETC may be asked to write entire sections of country reports. Increasingly, the objective is for the ETC and MTI climate team to provide advice for MTI generalists to integrate climate considerations into the reports themselves. Tasks for the ETC will thus meander between hands-on writing country report sections and providing advice in emails/meetings/trainings/guidance notes.

Travel and duty station

The position is based in Washington DC. In case the applicant has particularly exceptional technical modeling skills, it is possible that the proportions for tasks (1) and (2) may be changed and that a larger share of work from outside Washington DC could be possible. In any case, the position requires the willingness to regularly travel to developing countries globally.

Selection Criteria

Advanced degree in Economics or a closely related subject and at least three years of relevant professional experience. A doctorate in climate economics and further work experience are strongly preferred.

Required Competencies

• Expertise in fiscal policy of energy transitions – an advanced understanding of the both the literature on designing fiscal policy instruments for the energy transition (including fuel subsidy reforms, carbon taxes, feebates, tradeable performance standards, etc.) and the quantitative literature on macroeconomic impacts of fiscal policies on energy products is required.
• Econometrics – knowledge of graduate-level micro- and macro-econometrics, including of econometric approaches to evaluating energy and climate policies, is required. Experience with undertaking meta analyses is a strong plus.
• Economic modeling – a broad understanding of core results in the modeling literature on energy price changes (including carbon pricing) is required. Knowledge in using quantitative models for low-carbon structural change is a big plus.

Other Selection Criteria

• Experience working in developing countries and with ministries of finance/economy is a big plus.
• Strong communications skills, including the ability to present complex analyses to non-specialist audiences;
• Ability to work flexibly on a range of assignments and adjust to a variety of complex evolving tasks to meet tight deadlines;
• Integrative capacity including the ability to situate sectoral issues within a broader development framework;
• Strong client-orientation and diplomatic skills combined with candor and courage of opinion;
• Strong interpersonal skills and the capacity to work in teams across organizational boundaries within a multi-cultural environment
• Willingness to frequent global travel;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English is required; knowledge of other languages widely spoken in developing countries, especially Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish, is a strong plus.

Do you meet the selection criteria? If so, we encourage you to apply:

Core competencies

For information about WBG Core Competencies, please visit: https://bit.ly/2kbIA7O.

Poverty has no borders. Neither does excellence. This is why we continually search for qualified individuals with diverse backgrounds from around the globe. We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC, including our values and inspiring stories.