Professor of Economics, University of Sussex

Professor L. Alan Winters is the Professor of Economics in the University of Sussex. Before this, he was the Chief Economist at the Department for International Development (DFID), London. He is a Research Fellow and former Program Director of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) London, and Fellow of IZA, Munich. He is also the editor of The World Trade Review.

He was Director of the Development Research Group of the World Bank (2004-2007), and had previously been Division Chief and Research Manager (1994-1999) and Economist (1983-1985) in the Bank. He has also advised, inter alia, the OECD, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the European Commission, the European Parliament, UNCTAD, the WTO, and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Professor Winters has published over 200 articles and 30 books in areas such as regional trading arrangements, non-tariff barriers, European integration, transition economies’ trade, international labor mobility, agricultural protection, trade and poverty, and the world trading system.

Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, United States
Former President of Mexico

Chair, Board of Governors, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), India

Dr. Isher Ahluwalia is the Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) since 2005. Dr. Ahluwalia is on the boards of numerous research institutes in India including the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the Madras School of Economics. She is also Member, Research Advisory Board, Institute of International Economics, Washington, D.C. She was a Member of the Eminent Persons Group under the Chairmanship of Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development which recently submitted its report ‘Towards a New Asian Development Bank in a New Asia’ to the Asian Development Bank. She holds a Ph.D. from MIT, a M.A. from Delhi School of Economics, and a B.A. with Honors from University of Calcutta.

Represents: South Asian Network of Economic Research Institutes

Malaysia Institute of Economic Research, Malaysia

Mohammed Ariff is a specialist in International Economics and is currently the Executive Director of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER). Previously he held the Chair of Analytical Economics at the University of Malaya where he had also served as the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Administration. He was conferred emeritus professorship by the University of Malaya in August 2004 and ‘Datukship’ by His Majesty the King in June 2007.

Represents: East Asian Development Network

Vice Chancellor, University of Ghana, Ghana

Professor Ernest Aryeetey is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon. A Professor of Economics, he was a Senior Fellow and Director of the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC. He was also Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, Legon for the period 2003-2010, President of the Ghana Institute of Planners (1996-1998) and has held key consultancy positions in various international organizations. He has lectured at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (1993), the Department of Economics at Yale University (1999), and the Department of Economics at Swarthmore College (2001-2002). He is a Board Member of the United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economics Research, Helsinki and is also a Member of the Advisory Committee of African Economic Research Consortium, Nairobi, Kenya. He studied Economics at the University of Ghana and obtained a Doktor-Ingenieur at the University of Dortmund, Germany.

Represents: African Economic Research Consortium

Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States of America

Abhijit V. Banerjee is the Ford Foundation Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Director of the Poverty Action Lab and the past President of the Bureau for Research in Economic Analysis and Development (BREAD). He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has been a Guggenheim Fellow and Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow. His areas of research are development economics, the economics of financial markets and the macroeconomics of developing countries. Recently, he directed ‘The Name of The Disease’ a documentary on the difficulty in getting health care in rural India. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and has taught at Princeton and Harvard before joining the MIT faculty in 1996. He was awarded the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award for Development Cooperation in 2009.

Represents: Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development

Director of Paris School of Economics and Professor of Economics, Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, France

Dr. François Bourguignon is the Director of Paris School of Economics and Professor of Economics, Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales. In the past he has served as the Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, the World Bank, Washington (2003-2007) and as the Advisor of the Chief Economist at Banque Mondiale (1999-2000). Dr. François Bourguignon was the founder and first Director of Delta, Joint Research Unit Cnrs, Ehess et Ens (1988). He is a Statistician from Ecole nationale de la statistique et de l'administration économique and holds a Ph.D. in Economics from University of Western Ontario. Dr. Bourguignon also has a DEA Mathématiques appliquées, Université Paris and a Doctorat d'Etat en économie, Université d'Orléans. His fields of research include income distribution, inequality and poverty, redistribution, economic development and he has authored a number of books related to these issues. He has received several awards and merits for his works.

Represents: European Development Research Network

Director, Development Policy, DEC and Chief Economist, FPD

Dr. Asli Demirgüç-Kunt is the Director of Development Policy in the World Bank's Development Economics Vice Presidency (DEC) and the Chief Economist of Financial and Private Sector Development Network (FPD). After joining the Bank in 1989 as a Young Economist, she has been in different divisions of the Research Group, working on financial sector issues and advising on financial sector policy. She is the lead author of the World Bank Policy Research Report 2007, Finance for All? Policies and Pitfalls in Expanding Access.

The author of over 100 publications, she has published widely in academic journals. Her research has focused on the links between financial development and firm performance and economic development. Banking crises, financial regulation, and access to financial services including SME finance are among her areas of research. Prior to coming to the Bank, she was an Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from Ohio State University.

Represents: The World Bank

Professor, Faculty of International Studies, Bunkyo University, Japan

Kaoru Hayashi is a Professor at the Faculty of International Studies in Bunkyo University. In the past, Hayashi has worked as a catalyst to mobilize resources in Japan for global development in his role as a member of the GDN-Japan network. He is the GDN Advisor at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Prior to this Hayashi was the Director General in the Sector Strategy Development Department of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. He has also worked as the Senior Economist at the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund. He has lectured in the departments of International Development, International Cooperation, Policy Studies, amongst others, of several universities such as Nagoya University, Hosei University, Kobe University and Keio University. He has done his Masters in Law from Keio University, Tokyo, and has written several articles related to public expenditure management and economic integration.

Represents: GDN-Japan

T.H. Lee Professor of World Affairs, International Professor of Applied Economics and Management, and Professor of Economics at Cornell University, United States of America

Ravi Kanbur is T.H. Lee Professor of World Affairs, International Professor of Applied Economics and Management, and Professor of Economics at Cornell University. Professor Kanbur has served on the staff of the World Bank as Economic Advisor, Senior Economic Advisor, Resident Representative in Ghana, Chief Economist of the African Region of the World Bank, and Principal Advisor to the Chief Economist of the World Bank. He has also served as Director of the World Bank's World Development Report. He has taught at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Essex, Warwick, Princeton and Columbia. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge and a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Oxford. Professor Kanbur's main areas of interest are public economics and development economics. He is particularly interested in bridging the worlds of rigorous analysis and practical policymaking.

Assistant Secretary-General and Director of Bureau for Development Policy, United Nations Development Program, United States of America

Olav Kjørven is the Assistant Secretary-General and Director of Bureau for Development Policy at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). He is responsible for UNDP’s key practice areas of democratic governance, HIV/AIDS, poverty reduction, and environment and energy. From 2005-2007 Mr. Kjørven led UNDP’s Environment and Energy Group, promoting sound environmental management and access to energy for poverty reduction and tapping new financial mechanisms for development such as carbon finance. Prior to joining UNDP, he served the Government of Norway as State Secretary for International Development (2001-2005) and held the post of Political Advisor to the Minister of International Development and Human Rights (1997-2000). Olav has also worked as Director of International Development at the Centre for Economic Analysis (ECON) in Oslo (2000-2001) and as an Environmental Specialist at the World Bank (1992-1997). He holds a M.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University.

Represents: United Nations Development Programme

Samuel Z. Stone Professor of Latin American Economics, Tulane University, New Orleans, United States of America

Nora Lustig is Samuel Z. Stone Professor of Latin American Economics at Tulane University (New Orleans, USA) where she holds a joint appointment in the Department of Economics and the Stone Center for Latin American Studies. She is also a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development and the Inter-American Dialogue (Washington, DC) and an associate research fellow of Tulane’s Center for Inter-American Policy and Research (CIPR). Dr. Lustig’s research and teaching have focused on economic development, poverty and inequality, social policies and social protection with particular emphasis on Latin America. She has published sixteen books and more than 70 articles. Her classic Mexico: the Remaking of an Economy (Brookings Institution) was selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Book. A sample of her recent publications includes: Declining Inequality in Latin America. A Decade of Progress?; Thought for Food: the Challenges of Coping with Soaring Food Prices; The Microeconomics of Income Distribution Dynamics; Shielding the Poor: Social Protection in the Developing World.      View Personal Website       View Researcher profile 

Represents: The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association

Governor, Central Bank of Tunisia, Tunisia

Mustapha Nabli is the Governor at the Central Bank of Tunisia. Before this, he was the Senior Advisor at the Development Economics Vice-Presidency and the Regional Chief Economist and Director of the Social and Economic Development Group, The World Bank (1999-2010). Prior to joining the World Bank in 1997 as Senior Economic Advisor with the Development Prospects Group, Development Economics, he was an international consultant. From 1990 to 1995 he served as Minister of Economic Development and Minister of Planning and Regional Development in the Government of Tunisia, and from 1988 to 1990 he was Chairman of the Tunis Stock Exchange. During the period from 1975 to 1988 Mr. Nabli was Professor of Economics at the University of Tunis, and research fellow at various universities around the world.

Represents: Economic Research Forum

Professor and Director, Development Studies Program, University of the South Pacific, Fiji

Vijay Naidu is Professor and Director, Development Studies Program at the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Suva, Fiji. Prior to this he was Professor and Director, Development Studies Program at the Victoria University of Wellington. He has also been Professor and Director, Development Studies Institute of Geography, School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, (SGEES), Faculty of Science at the Victoria University of Wellington in Aotearoa, New Zealand. He has worked in a range of other capacities including as Commissioner, Legal Aid Commission, Fiji; Commissioner, Constituency Boundaries Commission, Fiji; and Dean of Preliminary and Foundation Studies, USP. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology of Development from University of Sussex, England. His research interests include globalization and small island states, regionalism: possibilities and limits, and the role of the state in development.

Represents: Oceania Development Network

Professor of Economics, Universidad Torcuato di Tella, Argentina

Pablo Andres Neumeyer is Professor of Economics at the Universidad Torcuato di Tella in Buenos Aires, where he was the Chair of the Economics Department (1999-2004). He is the current Chair of the Latin American chapter of the Econometric Society, Head of LACEA’s International Finance Network, Associate Editor of Macroeconomic Dynamics, and recipient of the 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship. He has also worked as a consultant for the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the Federal Reserve. Professor Neumeyer has taught at the University of Southern California, the University of Chicago and New York University. He is a graduate of the University of Buenos Aires and received his Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University in 1992. He is a distinguished researcher in the fields of macroeconomics and international economics and has published numerous articles in leading professional journals such as the American Economic Review and Econometrica.

Represents: International Economics Association

Professor of Economics, University of Namur, Belgium

Jean-Philippe Platteau is Professor of Economics at the University of Namur, Belgium. He is also a Member of the Advisory Committee of the World Bank’s Network for Agrarian Reform and of the International Society for the New Institutional Economics (ISNIE). Professor Platteau has been the Associate Editor of several development journals including the Journal of Development Studies, World Development (till 2000), Development and Change, and Oxford Development Studies. His research has mainly focussed on agrarian institutions in developing countries, the determinants of village-level collective action, common property resource management in village societies, and informal risk-sharing mechanisms. His books include ‘Institutions, Social Norms and Economic Development’ (2000); ‘Access to Land, Rural Poverty, and Public Action’ (2001) with A. de Janvry, E. Sadoulet, and G. Gordillo, editors; and ‘Halting Degradation of Natural Resources: Is there a Role for Rural Communities?’ (1996) with J.M. Baland.

Represents: European Development Research Network

Professor of Sociology, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines

Emma Porio is Professor of Sociology at the Ateneo de Manila University. She currently chairs the Technical Panel for Sociology and Anthropology in the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) of the Philippines and is a Member of the Executive Committee of the International Sociological Association (ISA). Professor Porio serves as research advisor to several non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations. She is the past Chairperson of the Governing Council of the Philippine Social Science Council and of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Ateneo de Manila University. She obtained her Ph.D. (Sociology) from the University of Hawaii and the East-West Center (USA) and has been a recipient of several research fellowships, the most recent being the Ash Institute Fellowship for Local Governance (Harvard University). Professor Porio has done extensive research on children, women, poverty, development, and governance and authored several books.

Represents: International Sociological Association

David Florence Professor of Government, Harvard University, United States of America

James Robinson is a David Florence Professor of Government at Harvard University, United States of America, and a faculty associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. He has taught in the Department of Economics at the University of Melbourne, the University of Southern California and before moving to Harvard was a Professor in the Departments of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He has been a member of the Swedish Development Policy Council, a committee advising the Swedish Foreign Minister on Sweden’s International Development Policy from 2007 to 2010. He is also a Senior Scholar of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. He has authored several award winning books including, ‘Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy’ which won him the Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award by the American Political Science Association and William Riker Prize Award.

Represents: Harvard University

Member, Executive Board, Center for Public Policy, University of São Paulo, Brazil

Dr. Lourdes Sola is on the Executive Board of the Center for Public Policy, University of São Paulo, where she coordinates research projects on the Politics of Economic Transformation in Emerging Market Democracies. Past president of the International Political Science Association, she was also professor at the Department of Political Science, University of São Paulo. During 2002 she was Holder of the Rio Branco Chair for Brazilian Studies at University of California, Berkeley. She was among the first social scientists elected to the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (2000) and was awarded the Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit (Ordem do Mérito Científico) in 2001 by the Brazilian Government. She is on the Executive Board of the International Social Science Council (ISSC-UNESCO) and the Advisory Board of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA-Stockholm). She holds a Ph.D. in Politics from the University of Oxford.

Represents: International Political Science Association

Deputy Governor, Croatian National Bank and Professor, University of Zagreb, Croatia

Boris Vujčić has been a Professor of Economics at the University of Zagreb since 2003. He was a consultant to the European Commission, DG-II Economic and Financial Affairs in 1996. Between 1992 and 1994 Boris Vujčić was a visiting fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex in Brighton, visiting lecturer at the University of Freiberg, Germany and visiting scholar at the University of Kentucky, United States of America. He joined the Croatian National Bank in 1997, where he was Director of the Research Department for three years, before becoming Deputy Governor in 2000. His research interests include macroeconomics, international finance and labor economics. He holds a B.A., M.A. and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Zagreb. In addition, he has received diplomas in Economics from the Montpellier University (France), the Michigan State University and in-service training at the European Commission in the Monetary Matters Department in Brussels.

Represents: Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute

Trustee, Robert H. and Nancy Dedman Trustee Professor of Economics, SMU

Shlomo Weber is the Dedman Trustee Professor of Economics, SMU, and the PINE Foundation Visiting Professor at the New Economic School in Moscow. He served as the Department Head at SMU, Research Director of CORE, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, and the Academic Director of the International School of Economics in Tbilisi. He was a visiting scholar and professor at Yale, Stanford, Toronto, Tokyo, Singapore, Bonn, Paris, the Fiscal Affairs Department of IMF.  He held positions as member of the Expert Panel of the IMF, the Chairman of the Board of the Russian-American Center, Dallas, a member of the Academic Advisory Council of OSI-HESP and EERC.  Shlomo Weber has a Ph.D. in Mathematical Economics from Hebrew University in Jerusalem.  His recent book ‘How Many Languages Do We Need: Economics of Linguistic Diversity’ has been published by the Princeton University Press. He holds various academic awards with the newest addition being the Fernando Baudei Senior Fellowship from the European University Institute, Florence in 2010.

Represents: The Economics Education and Research Consortium