Yichen Sun (’27)

This summer, I interned with the World Bank’s Finance, Competitiveness, and Investment division, where I researched potential mechanisms for auctioning development credit to banks and other financial institutions to support small businesses. Throughout the project, I learned a lot about auction theory, development finance, and political economy. My teammates and I then developed a model and simulation of a credit auction and wrote a section of a working paper delivering policy recommendations for running the auctions.

This was my first time working independently on a research project, and I benefited greatly from strong mentorship and a supportive environment. I especially enjoyed the intellectual environment at the World Bank: attending seminars and speaking with economists on a wide range of topics in development economics was fun and rewarding. My experience this summer reinforced my enthusiasm for economic research, and it has broadened my perspectives on academic and professional directions I want to pursue in the future.