Youssef Ghallada

Postan Fellow, 2024/25LSE (Visiting Fellow)

Youssef’s research focuses on monetary regimes, financial and trade networks and how they are intertwined. During his PhD at UCLouvain Saint-Louis – Bruxelles and Université Libre de Bruxelles, he studied these factors during the late 19th century as they experienced major changes in that period. The thesis investigates, using innovative quantitative techniques, how network externalities influenced the fate of the international monetary system. It further emphasizes how financial access to short-term capital evolved during this period and how it shaped international trade flows. The thesis highlights the importance of the London Money market, with its sterling bill market, for that matter. During this fellowship, Youssef intends to examine further the prime importance of London as financing hub for international trade by exploring diverse network mechanisms in that market thanks to a cutting-edge stochastic actor-oriented model. His aim is to unravel how UK financial intermediaries, involved in the origination of the sterling bill of exchange, overcame informational problems peculiar to international traders. This granular network analysis will enable him to deepen our knowledge on how a financial network structure impacts world trade and the real economy.