Result of Service

Substantive contribution to the econometric models of the GUARD tool.

Econometric findings and policy-relevant analytical outputs produced to support related outputs of the project (e.g. technical paper/policy brief).
The IC is responsible for updating and maintaining the files and data used in an electronic format.

Work Location

Hybrid

Expected duration

5 months

Duties and Responsibilities

Background Phantom FDI are typically routed through low-or no-tax jurisdictions to facilitate profit shifting and regulatory arbitrage, undermining fiscal revenues and diverting resources away from national development priorities. According to the IMF, phantom FDI accounts for up to 40 per cent of global FDI stocks, while the OECD has highlighted how multinational corporations exploit such flows to disconnect financial activity from the real economy. Assessing phantom FDI risks is essential for safeguarding the integrity of national statistics, reducing fiscal leakages, and strengthening the effectiveness of investment-led development strategies. It also explains why high FDI inflows may not translate into productive investment or broader development gains, underscoring the need to assess not only the volume, but the quality of FDI. Duties and responsibilities The Individual Contractor (IC) will provide analytical and technical support to the work of the Financing for Development Team in the areas covered by this assignment. Specific responsibilities include:

Extracts, compiles and manages bilateral and sectoral FDI datasets and other relevant indicators required for the analysis which pertain to phantom FDI and related IFFs risks in pilot countries.
Reviews, validates and harmonizes FDI related data and apply appropriate statistical techniques to address data quality issues, inconsistencies and gaps.
Provides technical support in the implementation of econometric modeling and analysis to identify anomalous investment patterns, high-risk foreign jurisdictions and domestic sectors potentially linked to phantom FDI.
Contributes to the development of country and sector-level risk profiles through the analysis of medium and long-term investment trends, bilateral investment relationships, and relevant risk indicators.
Supports in compiling and mapping risk indicators to identify high-risk sectors and counterpart countries, with visual outputs tailored to the context of pilot countries.
Maintains, updates and documents structured datasets and related analytical files and load data into a computerized database system.
Develops statistical tables, visualizations, dashboards, and other analytical products using appropriate analytical and visualization tools to illustrate key findings and trends related to phantom FDI and IFF risks.
Contributes to the design of interactive dashboards and visualization interfaces that illustrate key indicators and investment patterns including the development of related wireframes.
Conducts statistical analysis to support the preparation of background material, technical notes, and presentations for project outputs.
Contributes to ongoing work related to IFFs, including analytical support to the development and updating of scorecard.
Assist in the preparation of literature reviews, research papers and presentations.
Prepares a variety of reports, presentations, tables, lists, graphs, charts, and/or diagrams based on the data analyzed for information.
Collaborate closely with team members in the field of Financing for Development and provides substantive support for project activities, expert meetings, consultations, workshops, and other related tasks as required.

Qualifications/special skills

A Master’s degree in economics, applied economics, finance, econometrics or in a related area is required. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. A minimum of two years of professional work experience in research, data extraction or using statistical tools is required. A minimum of one year of professional experience in practical user-friendly tools to support trend analysis, scenario development and the visualization of desired futures is required. Proficiency in statistical software (i.e STATA, EVIEWS) is required. Knowledge of the time series macro econometric models and panel data analysis is required. Knowledge of Vector Autoregressive Models (VARs) or Structural VAR is desirable. Knowledge of panel data modeling approaches including fixed effects, dynamic panel models, gravity models and generalized method of moments (GMM) is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position, fluency of English and Arabic are required. Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.

Additional Information

Recruitment for this position is on a local basis. The incumbent is required to have the legal right to live and work in the specified working location.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

Individual Contractor on Financing for Development (Data Analysis)