Christian Rodas
By George Shea ’19
Not often can an individual say their writing is award winning. Christian Rodas, a graduate student at Ohio University, is one who can. In September, Rodas was awarded the Best Paper Award by a Graduate Student at the 78th Conference of Ohio Association of Economists and Political Scientists.
The OAEPS is a not-for-profit organization composed of academicians and students in economics, political science and related fields. At the annual conference, there is a paper competition for undergraduate and graduate students on their research. This year the conference was held at Capital University, and Rodas presented his paper titled “Ecuador’s Financial Relationship with China under the Correa Administration.”
“My paper analyzes the potential risks emerging from the ever-growing financial relationship that Ecuador established with China under the Correa administration,” he said. “After assessing the magnitude and the conditions of Chinese loans, the study concludes that Ecuador failed to implement sound economic policies to attain sustainable economic growth despite the copious amount of readily available debt the country took from China, with higher interest rates and shorter maturity dates than those offered by traditional lenders like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.”
Rodas, from Ecuador, has a bachelor’s in economics and a master’s in Latin American Studies (from Ohio University), focused on International Economics, and is currently pursing a master’s in Political Science at OHIO. This conference allowed him to merge all three of his degrees together in order to learn the current state of affairs in Latin America, China and other parts of the world.
“I could bring Political Science and Economics together, two fields I’m interested in, after listening to colleagues who use different research methods to address their research topics. This provided me with new academic instruments to improve my current research in International Political Economy of Latin America,” he said.
Besides taking home the best paper award, Rodas was additionally able to enhance his networking and presentation skills. He added that the conference greatly improved his communication skills. When talking with colleagues at the conference, he was able to gauge a different perspective from these academics and students.
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