Meet Curtis James

Always at the leading edge, Curtis became the Initiative’s first Fellow in July 2014, after graduating from New York University with a BA in Economics and a minor in Business Studies. Since that time, he has applied his training in economics and data analysis to positions at the World Bank Group, TVision, Fuzz Productions, and Spotify.

While at NYU, Curtis was an active member of the Economic Theory Society and Quantitative Finance Society. Developing his taste for data and digital innovation as an undergraduate, he established the New York portal of the food discovery website MunchonMe, which was acquired by CollegeBudget in 2012. Curtis also ran varsity track and field during his first two years at NYU, competing in the pole vault, and received the UAA All-Academic Sports Team Recognition in 2011.

The Entrance Interview: Economics in His Own Words

  I first realized the power of economics when I was in high school during the 2008–2009 Recession. It was not my first time learning about a financial crisis—we had gone over the Great Depression in my AP American History Class as well as the Dot-Com bubble in the 1990s. But it was the first time I felt the reach of our financial markets touch the lives of so many people around me. A lot of families I knew were adversely affected by the situation, mine included.

“After graduation, I wanted to find a way to combine my love of mathematics and problem solving with my interest in social welfare and the economy. I knew that joining the PhD Excellence Initiative would really force me to think more deeply about the topics that interest me and discipline myself for a higher degree in economics. I also wanted to work with Professor Henry because of his devotion to studying the impact of economic reform on the lives of people in developing countries. Professor Henry told me early on that participating in the PhD Excellence Initiative would be akin to an Olympic training regimen in economics, and he has yet to be proven wrong.”