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K. Philippa "Pippa" Malmgren used to travel the globe for banking companies, analyzing politics and policies to advise fund managers on when to buy or sell. Now the PhD economist analyzes the world's markets to advise President George W. Bush.
"My particular area of expertise was understanding how political and policy choices would ultimately impact the direction of national economies," said Ms. Malmgren, a special assistant to the President for economics policy. She serves on the National Economic Council headed by chief White House economics adviser Lawrence B. Lindsey.
Her new job -- which entitles her to be addressed as "The Honorable" -- entails "looking at many aspects of financial markets, not only policy issues but the actual developments," she said in a recent interview from her post in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the grandiose, 130-year-old structure next to the White House where most of the President's staff work.
"I come in in the morning," she said, "and have a look at what the prices did overnight, what announcements are going to be made today ... with a view as to how they might impact the U.S. domestic economy and our policy choices."
Banking policy is part of her broad domestic financial markets portfolio. Others on the council track agriculture, energy, labor, Social Security, and technology issues.
"I was asked to look at financial markets, partly because Larry Lindsey wanted to ensure we had some practical experience. Apparently I bring that to the table," said Ms. Malmgren, who just turned 39. "There's no doubt that having spent one's career mainly on trading floors gives you a certain perspective on things."
She started out in the industry selling hedge funds for Bankers Trust in London two years after earning her doctorate from the prestigious London School of Economics in 1991. She went on to run the bank's Scandinavian alternative asset marketing operation and then moved to Hong Kong to manage its Asian asset management business. It was there that she met her husband, an Australian...