Dennis Shen

Dennis is an economist based with Scope Ratings, a leading European credit rating agency.

Up to 2011, I had completed my education and professional experiences almost entirely in the US. I therefore came to London and the LSE that year with sky-high expectations for the international and multi-disciplinarian education that is the MPA’s trademark.

In hindsight, my two years at the LSE were indeed formative. The global education broadened my understanding of the world as an international economist, and has helped in my capacity to solve pressing global economic and political issues from diverse vantage points. I participated in student activities: this included co-founding the School of Public Policy’s The Public Sphere journal in 2012, and presenting at symposia such as the LSE-Princeton Woodrow Wilson School conferences in 2012 and 2013. Moreover, the LSE’s extremely high hopes for its students – deriving from its Fabian roots, the university hopes that graduates will use the social sciences as levers to shape better conditions around the world – was highly inspiring, and certainly not lost on me.

I came to the LSE on academic leave from my New York employer, Alliance Bernstein – a major global institutional money manager. I returned to AB over the summer of 2012, and returned permanently in the London office after graduation in 2013. With AB, I was employed as a European Economist, assessing the economic conditions of European nation-states, and considering the firm’s investment of capital into national projects via sovereign bond markets.

Since relocating to Berlin, I have been employed with Scope Ratings – the European credit rating agency – since 2017, as a Senior Director currently in sovereign ratings and Chair of the Macroeconomic Council. In this role, I assay the economic, fiscal, and financial governance of sovereign nations around the world, and determine the consistency of policy frameworks with specific government ratings, which affect nations’ market access and financing rates. My role involves interactions with ministries of finance, central banks, and financial supervisory bodies, in order to liaise on sustainable economic policies in the context of the agency’s decisions. With both Scope and Alliance Bernstein, I have worked on environment, social and governance (ESG)-related projects – tying to the integration of sustainability and climate change considerations more thoroughly in financial markets.

The opportunity to study at the LSE can be life-defining, but only if one wishes it to be. If one attends the LSE wanting to better understand the causes of things, and to put together the great puzzle of this world we live in, there is no university better. While understanding the complexities of the world is a lifelong journey, the LSE provides a pretty good head start. So consider your path, but do so through a uniquely London School of Economics lens. We collectively have the ability to touch this world in the paths we choose.

Click here to find out more about Dennis’ professional activities. Dennis is glad to connect by LinkedIn.