Macro Musings with David Beckworth · Monday, July 13, 2026
Stefan Luck shared how the global financial crisis and the European debt crisis during his undergraduate and early PhD years significantly influenced his interest in macroeconomics and finance. An internship in India in 2008, during which he experienced a period without internet access, coincided with major financial news, solidifying his career focus.
“Now, how did I get there? Of course, like many economists of my generation, I'm sort of 10 years out of the PhD, I was sort of shaped by the global financial crisis and the European debt crisis. They happened when I was sort of an undergrad and early in my PhD.”
“And so for me, the most memorable way to think about it is that in the summer of 2008, I was actually doing an internship in India, and I used the proceeds for that, the money that I earned to travel a little bit around the country.”
“And at the time, when you were taking an economics, you pursuing an economics degree, there weren't a ton of classes on financial crises or credit booms gone bust. None of that really was sort of part of the curriculum.”
“But this was sort of the part of me where I really became interested in in macroeconomics and finance. And of course, the European debt crisis happened and, you know, one thing led to another.”