© Photo: private archive

Boris Georgiev, a student at the University in Aarhus, Denmark, has won the Best Undergraduate Paper in Economics 2013 Award of the International Atlantic Economic Society. The annual competition of the prestigious organization is held during its world conference. The graduate of the French Language School in Sofia is the first Bulgarian to have won the award, and the only student to have reached the finals for the second time – he came second last year. This year Boris met with tough competition of students from famous US colleges in Stanford, Berkeley and San Diego. Four papers have been selected by IAES from among hundreds of entries. The competition is held at two stages.
“The first stage consists of a check of all entries by more than 20 economists from across the globe. They go through the works unaware of the authors and the colleges they come from. This is a way to eliminate the risk of increasing the chances of students from world-acclaimed universities. A selection is made of four papers and these are defended with dedicated presentations.”

© Photo: private archive

The four nominees for the award and Professor Garry Clayton

This year the best undergraduate paper is in the sphere of financial economics and the optimization of financial portfolios. In it Boris Georgiev has developed a new optimization method with application in various investment strategies on capital markets. In the course of three months under the guidance of Prof. Bent Jesper Christensen, a leading figure in econometrics, Boris was able to prepare and write the best undergraduate paper in economics for 2013. While delivering his presentation in California, the young Bulgarian won the admiration of the jury lined up with eight world-famous economists from USA, India, China, UK, France and Italy.

© Photo: private archive

Boris Georgiev plans to defend his MA paper at the same university and will continue work there as PhD student. His wish is to find a job in the consultancy business. However, Boris has got another dream – to run an airline company of his own. Planes are the great passion of the talented Bulgarian. Since childhood he has been keen on aeromodelling.

“Some time ago, when I was hesitant as to whether to become an economist, a friend of mine told me that being a good economists meant one could become a successful businessmen, and then buy a plane and become a pilot”, Boris recalls. “On the other hand, a pilot can hardly become a good economist. That is why I chose economics. I have a passion for aviation and I think I would be happy to be part of the team of a large airline companies of the world, or why not run an airline company of my own”, concludes Bulgarian Boris Georgiev, winner of the Best Undergraduate Paper in Economics 2013 Award of the International Atlantic Economic Society.  

English version Daniela Konstantinova