Biography – Dennis Shen
Photo: London
Photo: New York
Dennis Shen is a macroeconomist and a Senior Director of sovereign ratings at Scope Ratings GmbH – the European rating agency – based in Berlin, Germany. He appears on CNBC Europe, Bloomberg TV Bulgaria and CGTN Africa, with research and commentary featured in print and online media such as Reuters, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Fortune, BBC, Telegraph, OMFIF, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Börsen-Zeitung, Handelsblatt, Les Échos, Milano Finanza, Il Sore 24 Ore, Cinco Días, Expansión, Kathimerini, Financial Afrik, among other mediums. He is a recipient of multiple Focus Economics analyst awards, a select member of the jury of the 2022 Emerging Europe Awards, panellist during the 2022 G7 finance ministers meetings, and co-author of the DSSI+ debt restructuring model.
Dennis contributes regularly for the London School of Economics (LSE) and supports the Berlin-based refugee welfare and youth work organisation, VISIONEERS, on its Supervisory Council as well as German-English translation work. Articles for the LSE have been re-posted by mediums such as Newsweek, Yahoo! News and Global Policy.
Before joining Scope in 2017, Dennis was with Alliance Bernstein (AB) – a global institutional money manager – in New York and London, serving on its Global Economic Research team, mostly recently as European Economist. At AB, Dennis covered regions such as Western Europe, Latin America and Asia, and worked on projects such as architecting the Carson-Shen monetary policy rule with Chief Economist Joseph Carson in 2009 as well as assessing the dynamic nature of fiscal multipliers. Dennis was a member of Paul Denoon's acclaimed emerging market debt group. His research and commentary at AB reflected citations by Reuters, CNBC, Milano Finanza, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Financial Post and CBS News.
Dennis completed the Master of Public Administration (MPA) in International Development at the LSE, during which he co-founded the programme's The Public Sphere Journal and led the programme in 2012 and 2013 conference debates against Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. In London, Dennis completed public speaking training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). He graduated from undergraduate studies in Operations Research and Engineering from Cornell University in 2007 – with a concentration in Financial Engineering.
He believes in enhancing the precision and extent of interdisciplinary considerations in economic and political evaluation, bettering the holistic-ness of social science research and supporting strengthened accuracy of economic forecasting and policy prescriptions. Such greater precision of analyses and diagnoses could facilitate enhanced efficiencies in financial markets and better the quality of economic governance. He has an exceptional track record of ahead-of-the-curve and precise assessments and forecasting ranging from the 2014-15 Greek crisis to Brexit to the Covid-19 crisis.
Dennis is passionate about environmental sustainability and has been involved in projects that involve the integration of environment, social and governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) considerations in finance. While living in New York, Dennis co-founded the Junior Ocean Council of Oceana – the world's largest organisation dedicated to ocean preservation. He completed his Dissertation from the LSE with Distinction concerning the economics of ocean hypoxia.
Dennis was born in Sichuan Province in mainland China and grew up in the United States in State College, Pennsylvania. He resides with his spouse, whom he met at the London School of Economics, and daughter in Berlin.