Kajsa Rudal has a bachelor degree (fil. kand) in economics from Linnaeus University, Växjö, and one year left for a master's degree at the University of Gothenburg. She learned about the summer assistant job through an email that the program manager at the economic's department in Gothenburg sent out.
"I am thinking about a doctorate in economics and find that questions about trade and industry are exciting," she says in response to the question "why specifically IFN?"
Kajsa explains that she enjoys policy-relevant issues and that she wrote her candidate thesis on how ISK taxation affects savings. She has an interest in society and loves math.
"I want my future work to mean something to society, that I can contribute in some way."
What did you learn during the summer at IFN?
"Very much about data processing," is her rapid response.
She explains that this knowledge will undoubtedly be helpful to have in working on the master's thesis (for which she has not yet decided on the topic).
"This is the kind of knowledge that you don't get at university, although it is precious for both learning and later for work.
"I have gained insight into how research works. Previously, I did not know how much work is required to find and process data and to make it useful for research. I have gained other perspectives on how the methodology works.
Kajsa has worked with several IFN researchers, and enthusiastically explains how much she has also learned from the regular research assistants at IFN.
"We are about the same age, and they have readily helped me with my work assignments. I also appreciate that they have shared their experiences and thoughts about, for example, what it's like to apply for doctoral studies.
Kajsa has felt at home at IFN and says that the only surprising element is the age span, which is much bigger than she thought it would be. The oldest researcher is almost 90 years old while the youngest assistants are around 25 years.