"Soon after I graduated from economics in Budapest, I decided to see the world", says Gyöngyi Lóránth, opening the account of her professional life. Leaving Hungary was the first step towards an international career: "I finished my studies and applied for a few positions in Europe. The 'Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona' offered me a paid PhD, so I left for Spain. That was quite a quick decision." Another PhD at the Université libre de Bruxelles followed before Lóránth, meanwhile equipped with publications in well-reputed journals, eventually ended up in London, where she worked as a lecturer at Birkbeck College, a world-class institution for evening higher education. Back then the young scholar wished to take advantage of the professional network that London is famous for.
After teaching for a year at Birkbeck College, the London Business School offered her a Post-doc position, which she happily accepted: "I benefited a lot from the research environment there. As I did my PhD in economics and not in finance, I gained knowledge of the latter through seminars and joint-projects with people from the finance department", explains Lóránth. Later on she continued her career at Cambridge University. Since September 2009 Gyöngyi Lóránth, mother of two children, holds the Professorship for Finance at the Department of Business Adminstration of the University of Vienna: "I came to Vienna a couple of times and it always felt good. It is a fantastic city in Central Europe - for a Hungarian not a difficult place to live in."
Research needs interaction
It is not only the city itself that fascinates Lóránth: "Regarding research I find myself in a very fortunate position. The Vienna Graduate School of Finance, a cooperation between the University of Vienna, the Institute for Advanced Studies and the Vienna University of Economics and Business, is an excellent place that gathers international researchers working in finance in Vienna." The economist and finance expert is convinced that small countries like Austria have to pull resources together instead of creating many independent research institutions: "I appreciate this cooperation a lot. We need a proper interaction, especially in finance. That works very well here."
Heterogeneous student groups as a challenge
"Teaching, on the other hand, is quite a challenge in Austria", Lóránth continues and describes the differences between England and Austria: "At Cambridge University the groups were small and quite homogenous in their abilities. As the tuition fees are very high, students demand and interact more than is the case here. Small groups allowed me to mentor the students academically. That is a bit more difficult in Austria, where I'm confronted with rather big and very heterogeneous student groups."
Sub-prime borrowers and bank liquidity
In cooperation with international scholars, Lóránth is currently working on two projects. One deals with consumer credit. Data from a credit card company, which gives credit cards to so called sub-prime borrowers who do not qualify for loans from mainstream lenders, will be analyzed. The experts are studying how increased interest rates affect those borrowers: "Especially in the UK, there is an ongoing controversy as to whether or not those credits should be more regulated in the sense of an upper bound on interest rate charges. It is very interesting to look into that subject", states Lóránth.
The second project gives an insight into the management of bank liquidity during the financial crisis. Usually banks assure liquidity through borrowing from the inter-bank market - a bank trades with another bank - or by raising capital. The scholar's interest is to find out how those sources were affected during the crisis.
Using tools and building a model
"As those examples show, we try to respond to certain problems. It doesn't often occur that I have to deal with abstract things. We have concepts and tools that explain real life phenomena. I very much appreciate working in that way: There is a phenomenon, I have an idea and I try to build a model which could explain it. It's a little bit like playing with Lego as a child. You put together the right blocks, so that the construction does not collapse", Lóránth explains her way of approaching a certain subject.
Gyöngyi Lóránth is one of a few women who have made their way in the male-dominated field of finance: "It already starts at university. In the specialization 'mathematical economics' I was the only woman. I started getting used to that situation when I was 20, so I know how to handle it", comments the economist. Speaking from experience, Lóránth is convinced that young researchers - especially women - need a certain stubbornness to start off a career in this field: "Unlike, for example, in natural science, research in economics and finance is often done by one person, not in groups, so you might feel alone from time to time, especially at the beginning. Being stubborn and convinced of oneself is a difficult thing to learn, but it definitely pays off." (dh)
Since September 2009 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Gyöngyi Lóránth holds the professorship for Finance at the Department of Business Administration.
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