On Kristin Forbes, Financial Contagion, and Academic Tenure...

Financial contagion is the concept that it's entirely possible, and even likely, that financial crises in one country will spill over and affect financial systems in other countries. Kristin Forbes, an economics professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management, is one of the leading scholars on financial contagion, but when she first started researching her colleagues warned her that she would hit a dead end. She didn't, and instead got tenure at MIT and a position on the White House Council of Economic Advisers. This article gives a good overview of both professor Forbes and the concept of financial contagion.