Tehran – Zurich – Princeton

“I just wanted to try it out,” Mahsa Khoshnama says of her first economics course at Sharif University in Tehran. At the time, she was working toward her Bachelor’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Now she is about to become the first Iranian ever to join the prestigious PhD programme in Economics at Princeton University. Mahsa is currently a student in the MSc MTEC programme and the recipient of an ESOP excellence scholarship. She also works as a research assistant at the KOF Swiss Economic Institute.

What eventually became a journey halfway around the globe began with an early passion for mathematics. Mahsa recounts: “I have liked mathematics ever since high school. In Iran, most of the students who are interested in mathematics go on study engineering sciences, and I did as well. However, I was also very keen to learn more about the social and political issues prominent in Iran.” In her second year at Sharif University she took her first economics course. “Even though I didn’t get a good grade, I was really amazed,” Mahsa remembers. “I discovered that this was what I had always wanted to do, because I could apply the mathematical knowledge I had gained from my technical studies to social issues. So I went on to take some intermediate-level courses in economics.”

Traditionally, social sciences do not have the same standing as engineering in Iran. This is changing, however. Mahsa observes that “there is a trend toward engineering students interested in social and political issues taking courses in social science departments at technical universities.” Even though Mahsa was determined to pursue her newly found passion for economics, she felt unsure about joining a PhD programme immediately after finishing her undergraduate studies. “I thought the best option would be to get a Master’s degree in Economics first, so I applied to the MSc MTEC programme at ETH,” she says.

The plan I had

Studying abroad is a big step for Iranian students, Mahsa says. “The financial situation is dire for most Iranian families. Even above-median-income families can’t afford to send their children to study abroad, because the depreciation of our currency has been bad, and is getting worse. A lot of potential talents are missing out on the opportunity to study at good universities. Unlike other countries that are in similar economic situations, there are no scholarships for Iranian students to pursue their studies abroad. You can imagine how happy I was to receive the ESOP scholarship from ETH. It made it possible for me to come here and start my studies at D-MTEC.”

When Mahsa arrived in Zurich for the Autumn Semester of 2019, she was already planning to apply to PhD programmes in her second year. “I knew I was going to pursue an academic career in economics,” she says. She followed up on her plan, and in April 2021 the admissions committee of the Princeton Department of Economics called her to notify her of her admission. “It was funny,” Mahsa remembers with a laugh. “I was surprised that they called me on the phone, and I couldn’t really talk at that moment. But of course I was immensely happy that it had all worked out so well.”

Mahsa made the most of her two years in Zurich. “I took a lot of courses at D-MTEC – starting with the introductory lectures on Macroeconomics and moving on to the more specialised courses in Monetary Policy, Financial and Public Economics, Growth, Cycles and Policies, and Resource Economics,” she says. “Even though I had taken quite a few such courses during my Bachelor’s studies, I really enjoyed them. In Resource Economics, for example, you can tell how enthusiastic Professor Bretschger is about sustainability.” She also challenged herself by taking advanced doctoral courses, for which she was able to draw on her strong quantitative and mathematical knowledge. “My background was really helpful in allowing me to jump into more advanced topics quite easily. Even though I didn’t get credits for some of the doctoral courses, I still took them out of interest.”

Beneficial distractions

Economics forms only part of the MSc MTEC curriculum, so Mahsa also took business courses – with limited enthusiasm, at first. “I wasn’t into this stuff before. But when I took Mastering Digital Business Models with Professor Fleisch, it turned out to be really interesting. In economics, you always study the classic theories. Seeing how business actually works was fascinating, because it is quite different from what one sees from the perspective of economics.” Mahsa encourages future students at D-MTEC to embrace this balancing act. “There are opportunities for students who want to place more focus on the practical side, as well as for those who lean towards academia. For me, this is a big plus of the department. My suggestion is to move out of your bubble and explore these opportunities, of which I think are many.”

Having grown up in Isfahan and studied in Teheran, Mahsa experienced a big change when she moved to Zurich. “I wasn’t used to living in a small city. Since I’ve been in Witikon, however, I have really come to enjoy the natural world and the calm neighbourhood.” Also, at the beginning of her studies, no one knew about the coronavirus. “In the first semester, my classmates and I had the opportunity to be present at the university. So it was easier to hang out together,” Mahsa says. “Now the hanging out has decreased quite a bit, but we are still in touch with each other.” The pandemic was not easy for Mahsa. “To be honest, it has been tough. Even now, I am not working at the level of productivity I was used to before the pandemic. My impression is that a lot of students would also report that the first months of being at home were really frustrating. I spent a lot of time watching whole seasons of TV shows. You don’t know what to do, or how to balance your time between work, studies and leisure. I still miss the energy you get from meeting people and talking with them. Coffee breaks with colleagues and friends can go a long way toward furthering what you do in your work. I hope we can get back to normal soon.”

Finding a balance between theory and practice

The virus did not knock Mahsa off her course, though. Right now, she is finishing up her Master’s thesis in Political Economy at Professor Gersbach’s Chair of Macroeconomics, Innovation and Policy. Her thesis examines a new voting method that the research group has proposed, essentially comprising a combination of direct democracy, as in Switzerland, and representative systems, as in the UK. “Each of these two ways has problems and advantages. Critics argue that in direct democracies, the public may not be well enough informed to make policy decisions. On the other hand, parliamentarians in representative democracies may be biased and pursue different interests than those of the electorate,” Mahsa explains. “I am investigating the implications of our voting method in different societal settings – for example, settings in which the media tries to manipulate the public’s information regarding the consequences of different policies, or lobbying plays a large role in influencing parliamentary decisions, or voting involves costs for the voters. In all of these cases, we have seen that our new approach outperforms traditional forms of voting in terms of promoting social welfare.”

Since completing her MSc MTEC internship at the KOF Swiss Economic Institute in the Spring Semester 2020, Mahsa has been working there as a research assistant. Together with labour economist Michael Siegenthaler and his team, she is assessing how workers value the non-monetary aspects of their jobs. “A lot of economics literature focusses on how much workers get paid for their job. We want to know if employees would be willing to forego some part of their wages in order to receive other benefits like flexible working hours, improved communication on the job, different behaviour on the part of supervisors, and so on. We are using an online survey tool to try to find out how employees value these aspects, and whether these aspects account for the wage gaps that we currently see. We are also investigating how things have changed during covid. I am really grateful to ETH, my professors, supervisors and colleagues for giving me this opportunity to pursue my field of interest at D-MTEC, and also for supporting my intention to apply to a PhD programme.”

On to a new chapter

Mahsa has not yet decided whether she prefers empirical or theoretical work. “A good economist should be skilled at both. During my PhD I will have to focus on one or the other, though. It’s not easy for me to state my preference now, but I feel slightly more drawn to empirical work,” she says. “I am sure, however, that I want to work on inequality, immigration, or intergenerational mobility, all of which have to do with public and labour economics. I am also interested in investigating the society’s opinions on these issues, how they perceive the effects of different policies in these areas, and how these perceptions and beliefs affect the policy decisions on these topics in different countries. I find these questions haven’t yet been adequately dealt with.”

Contrary to the practice at D-MTEC, Mahsa will not be assigned a supervising professor right away at Princeton. She will spend two more years taking courses before delving into research. “When I chose to apply to Princeton, the department’s strong presence in the fields of public and labour economics was a crucial factor,” Mahsa says. “Also, the collaborative atmosphere I observed during the virtual open house appealed to me. A lot of top universities tend to be selective and very competitive. A focus on cooperation among the students helps you significantly with your work as a PhD candidate. Furthermore, I saw that the student body is very diverse. This is very important to me.” In fact, she herself will enrich the upcoming class by being the first Iranian ever to be part of the Princeton PhD programme in Economics. “This was surprising to me as well,” Mahsa says. “But I think it is due to the lack of mathematical training in the social sciences in Iran. A lot of talented mathematics students there end up pursuing studies in engineering.”

And yet there are other Iranians who have ventured on a similar path. “Maryam Farboodi, who is now a professor of economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and who, like me, is a Sharif University alumna, helped me in my decision to join Princeton,” Mahsa says. “And even earlier, I was in contact with Mohammad Akbarpour, who is now a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He encouraged me to pursue economics and helped me throughout the process. When I wanted to come to D-MTEC, I was also in touch with him. He taught me how important it is to be in touch with students when you follow an academic path. These are people who inspired me, and who gave me the confidence to pursue my goals.”