Participants

Aslund, Anders is Director of the Russian and Eurasian Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, DC, and an internationally recognized specialist on post-communist economies, especially in Russia and Ukraine. He is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Dr. Åslund has served as a senior economic advisor to the governments of Russia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan. He has been a Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics and a Swedish diplomat, serving in Kuwait, Geneva and Moscow. He earned his doctorate from Oxford University. Dr. Åslund has authored six books and edited ten. His books include Building Capitalism: The Transformation of the Former Soviet Bloc (Cambridge University Press, 2002), How Russia Became a Market Economy (Brookings, 1995), and Gorbachev's Struggle for Economic Reform (Cornell University Press, 1989). He has published widely, including in Foreign Affairs, New York Times, Washington Post, and Financial Times.

Bai, Chong-en is Mansfield Freeman Chair Professor of Economics and the Chairman of the Economics Department in the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University. He received his B.S. degree in Mathematics from University of Science and Technology of China in 1983 and won the Guo Moruo Prize there. He then went on a two-year graduate study in the Institute of Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He earned his Ph.D degrees in Mathematics and Economics from the University of California, San Diego in 1988 and Harvard University in 1993, respectively.  In 1992, he started working as an assistant professor at Boston College and then worked as an associate professor at the School of Economics and Finance of The University of Hong Kong. Having been a special-term professor in the School of Economics and Finance of Tsinghua University for two years, he joined the school full time as a full professor in 2004.  Bai Chong-En is also affiliated with the National Center for Economic Research of Tsinghua University, the William Davidson Institute of the University of Michigan Business School, and the Initiative for Policy Dialogue of Columbia University. He sits on the editorial board of the international journals Journal of Comparative Economics and China Economic Review and also on the editorial board or academic advisory board of such domestic journals as Annals of Economics and Finance and China Economic Quarterly. He is a co-editor of China Journal of Economics.   His research interests include Economics of Organization and Incentives, Corporate Governance, Industrial Economics, Economics of Development/Transition. His work includes not only academic research but also policy analysis about the Chinese economy. He has published in international journals such as American Economic Review (May, 1999), RAND Journal of Economics，Journal of International Economics，Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Comparative Economics, Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, European Economic Review and domestic journals such as Economic Research Journal. He co-edited with Chi-Wa Yuen “Technology and the New Economy” that is published by MIT press.

Bas, Jean-Christophe 47 years old, currently Development Policy Dialogue Manager at the World Bank.  He has set up innovative mechanisms of strategic dialogue and interaction between the World Bank and key constituencies around the World on Development , Poverty eradication and Global Issues in order  to encourage collaborative action on International development topics.  In this capacity , Jean-Christophe has actively contributed  to the creation and the design of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank, an independent and worldwide network of approximately 900 MP’s from 100 countries ; the Researchers Alliance for Development, an independent organization that brings hundreds of researchers from Academia , trade unions, private banks, think tanks and NGOs ; and the Youth, Development and Peace Network.  Jean-Christophe is also spearheading  the design and organization of the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics ( next edition to be held in Tokyo in May 2006).  He is a former Director of the Aspen Institute in France (1994-1999), chaired by former French PM Raymond Barre and currently by Michel Pebereau ( CEO BNP Paribas)  He was a Professor of Political Studies at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Lyon and a Vice President of the European Fund for the Freedom of Expression.  He was previously the General Manager of JCB Eurostrategy (1992-1994), a Public Affairs Company based in Paris and Brussels.  Jean-Christophe Bas started his carrier as Head of staff of the President of the Committee on External Economic Relations (1984-1986) at the European Parliament, and Secretary General of the French branch of the E P P  (1986-1989) at the European Parliament. He also served as elected city counselor in Besançon from 1989 to 1995..  From 1989-1991, he was a journalist working for several newspapers and magazines (“Réponse à Tout” as founder and Editor in Chief, “Enjeux les Echos” and “Valeurs Actuelles” as a journalist”).  Jean-Christophe is currently serving in the executive Board of the Aspen Institute in France. He is also serving in the Board of Director of “ Kuentz-Bas”, a family wine company created in 1795.  He is the proud father of two daughters : Zelda and Apolline.

Berglöf, Erik, a widely published and internationally respected specialist in the field of transition economics, has been appointed Chief Economist of the EBRD. Mr Berglof is currently Director of the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) and Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics. His focus has been on policy-related issues in transition economies, and he has regularly provided advice to national governments and international institutions including the IMF and the World Bank. Mr Berglof is also President of the Centre for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR) in Moscow and a Programme Director at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in London. He was previously Assistant Professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and has held visiting positions at Harvard, Stanford and MIT. The Office of the Chief Economist provides the economic and political analysis that underpins the EBRD's investment decisions and guides the Bank’s strategic planning.  Mr Berglof, who was selected after an extensive international search, will join the Bank in January 2006. He replaces Willem Buiter, who left to accept the Chair in European Political Economy at the London School of Economics.

Bourguignon, François is Chief Economist and Senior Vice President Development Economics. He is internationally recognized as an intellectual leader in the economics of public policy, inequality and economic growth and development. He also has considerable practical experience of the World Bank and its interactions with developing countries and other partners. He became Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President, Development Economics, on October 6, 2003. Bourguignon was previously Director of the Development Research Group, a part of the Development Economics Vice Presidency, and managing editor of the World Bank Economic Review. He has served as an advisor to many developing countries, the OECD, the United Nations, and the European Commission. Since 1985 he has been Professor of Economics at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, where he founded and directed the DELTA research unit in theoretical and applied economics. He has held academic positions with the University of Chile, Santiago, and the University of Toronto. He is also a Fellow of the Econometric Society. A French national, Bourguignon has authored and edited several books as well as numerous articles in leading international journals in economics. Complete bio.

Choi, Joong-Kyung  is the Executive Director of the World Bank Group representing Korea, Australia, Cambodia, Mongolia, New Zealand and seven Pacific Island Countries.  Mr. Choi served as Director General for the International Finance Bureau of the Ministry of Finance and Economy from April 17, 2003 to May 25, 2005, after holding the post of Chief of Staff at the office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy for two years.  Having joined the Ministry in 1980, Mr. Choi’s key areas of involvement were macro-economic and financial policies and international finance at home and abroad.  After the Asian financial crisis, he was the key person to oversee the affairs of task-force team specializing in foreign debt management while simultaneously serving as Director of Financial Cooperation between 1997 and 1999 to strengthen the cooperation with other economies and organizations, notably the World Bank. In addition, by holding various posts at the Financial Policy Bureau, he has built an extensive background in drafting the major polices for domestic finance during 1999 and 2000 when wrinkles of the crisis put domestic financial market in trouble. However, his experience in financial field was not limited to domestic arena. Throughout his term as Director General, he has clearly demonstrated his strong understanding of international financial institutions and development issues.  Outside the MOFE, Mr. Choi assisted policy planning and coordination of the overall Korea economy during his secondment to the Prime Minister’s Office from 1992 to 1993. On top of this, he took part in building a strong foundation for an advanced Korean financial system by being dispatched as a Visiting Fellow to the Korea Institute of Finance in 1995.  Mr. Choi also accumulated experience as chief negotiator of the Ministry in the various bilateral and multilateral rounds such as WTO financial services negotiation (1997), OECD Multilateral Agreements on Investment (MAI) and IDB membership talks. Mr. Choi was born in Korea on September 30, 1956. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Business Administration from Seoul National University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from University of Hawaii majoring in development finance.  He is married with three children and currently lives in McLean, Virginia.

<<font="Arial, Helvetica" />br /> Ekholm, Karolina graduated from Lund University in 1995, then worked at a research institute in Stockholm for four years before taking up a position at the Stockholm School of Economics where she is now an associate professor. During her time at the research institute, she focused on research on multinational firms and worked extensively on firm-level data on Swedish multinationals in the manufacturing sector. She is a member of the Swedish Economic Council (advisory body to the Ministry of Finance) since a few years back.

Gaidar, Yegor was born in Moscow in 1956, and received his Ph.D. in economics from Moscow State University in 1980.  He began his career as a Research Fellow, when he began a three-year stint as a journalist.  From 1990-1991, he served as Director of the Institute of Economic Policy under the Academy of National Economy of the Soviet Union. When the USSR dissolved in 1991, Mr. Gaidar began a distinguished career in government.  He served in a number of positions from 1991 to 1993, including: Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation, responsible for matters of economic policy; Minister of Economy and Finance; Acting Chairman of the Russian Federation government; Counselor to the President of the Russian Federation; First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation government; and Acting Minister of Economy of the Russian Federation.  During this time, Mr. Gaidar contributed to the flurry of economic and political reforms undertaken during Russia’s tumultuous transition from communism. In 1993, Mr. Gaidar moved from the executive to the legislative branch of government, serving as Deputy of the State Duma, and also began a five-year stint as Chairman of the Democratic Choice of Russia Party. He left government service briefly in 1996, serving as Director of the Institute for the Economy in Transition until 1999, though he remained active in party politics.  In 1999, Mr. Gaidar was elected Member of the State Duma, where he served until 2003.  After his service in the Duma, he returned to the directorship of the Institute for the Economy in Transition, where he remains today. Mr. Gaidar has published several books and over 100 articles on economic reform and post-communist transition.   

Gelb, Alan is Director, Development Policy, Development Economics Vice President's Office, The World Bank. Before assuming his current position in July 2004, Alan Gelb was the Bank’s Chief Economist for Africa. Before that, he was staff director of the 1996 World Development Report, From Plan to Market, and chief of the transition division in the Bank’s policy research department. He is a specialist on transition economies, financial systems, macroeconomic management, commodity prices and the economics and political economy of oil-exporting countries.  He has published several books and scholarly articles on these and related subjects, and co-authored Can Africa Claim the 21st Century?, an authoritative study on African development. Complete bio.

Gray, Cheryl is Director of Poverty Reduction and Economic Management in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. In this capacity she oversees approximately 125 staff who work on economic policy, public finance, trade, governance, legal and judicial reform, anti-corruption, gender and poverty analysis in the 29 client countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.Cheryl joined the Bank in 1986 through the Young Professionals Program after receiving a Ph.D. and J.D from Harvard University. She worked from 1987-1997in the Development Economics Vice-Presidency, where she participated in two World Development Report core teams (1988 on Public Finance and 1996 on Transition). She served as Director, Public Sector, from 1997-2002, and in that capacity co-authored the Bank’s 1997 anticorruption strategy, Helping Countries Combat Corruption: The Role of the World Bank, and directed the preparation of the World Bank’s public sector strategy, Reforming Institutions and Strengthening Governance: A World Bank Strategy. Most recently she co-authored Anticorruption in  Transition 2: Corruption in Enterprise-State Interactions in Europe and Central Asia 1999-2002. 

Grosfeld, Irena is Professor of Economics at the National Centre for Scientific Research, PSE (Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques) in Paris. She received a Master degree from the University of Warsaw and Ph.D from Université Paris-I Sorbonne. Her field of research is corporate finance and corporate governance, privatization and enterprise restructuring. She is Research Affiliate of the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London, member of the Advisory Council of the CASE Foundation in Warsaw and Research Fellow at William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan Business School, Ann Arbor. She was Consultant at the Polish Ministry for Ownership Transformation in 1990-1991 and Expert of the Privatization Council and of the Council for Social and Economic Strategy to the Prime Minister in Poland, in 1992-1997.

Guriev, Sergei is a Human Capital Foundation Associate Professor of Corporate Finance and the Rector of the New Economic School in Moscow. He received his Dr.Sc. (habilitation degree) in Economics (2002) and PhD in Applied Math from the Russian Academy of Science (1994), and M.Sc. Summa Cum Laude from Moscow Institute of Physics in Technology (1993).    In 1997-98, Mr. Guriev visited the Department of Economics at M.I.T. for a one-year post-doctoral placement, and in 2003-2004, the Department of Economics at Princeton University as a Visiting Assistant Professor. Since 1999, Mr. Guriev has been a Research Affiliate at Centre for Economic Policy Research, London.  His research interests include contract theory, corporate governance, and labor mobility. He teaches graduate courses in microeconomic theory, contract theory, and development economics. Dr. Guriev has published in international refereed journals including American Economic Review and Journal of Economic Perspectives. Since 2003, Sergei Guriev has also been a columnist for the leading Russian business daily Vedomosti and has also contributed occasional columns to the New York Times, Moscow Times, and Expert.

Leautier, Frannie is a Vice President at the World Bank and the Head of the World Bank Institute.  She has been in this position since December 2001.  Prior to this job she was Chief of Staff for the President of the World Bank Group where she was responsible for providing oversight and guidance to the staff of the President's office in all aspects of their work as well as helping to enhance coordination of the President's Office with other units throughout the Bank.  Ms. Leautier has also held the position of Director for the Infrastructure Group comprised of the merged practices of Transport; Water and Sanitation; Urban Development; and Energy. She joined the World Bank Group in 1992 and has worked as a transport economist in the Latin America & Caribbean and South Asia Regions, and as a research economist in the Development Economics Department. She served as Sector Director for Infrastructure in South Asia from 1997-2000. She is recognized as a leading expert in infrastructure strategy formulation in developing countries.  Ms. Leautier received her Master of Science in Transportation, and her PhD in Infrastructure Systems, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Prior to joining the Bank, she taught at the Center for Construction Research and Education, and the Department of Urban Planning, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is a recipient of a number of excellence awards, including Best Manager, from the World Bank Staff Association and an IFC/PSI Senior Management Performance Award in recognition of her leadership in reinvigorating the intellectual thinking about the infrastructure sectors and providing strategic direction in these sectors. She is Associate Editor for Journal of Infrastructure Systems and a member of a number of international committees on infrastructure development. She has also completed the Harvard Executive Development Program.

Mayer, Thierry is currently professor of economics at the University of Paris-Sud together with being a scientific advisor in CEPII, research associate at PSE (Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques) and research affiliate in the International Trade programme at CEPR. He holds a PhD from University of Paris 1 since January 2000, where he worked as maître de conférences from September 2000 to August 2002. His research is primarily focused on economic geography, trade theory and empirics as well as on foreign direct investment determinants. His recent publications include empirical studies on the level and causes of market fragmentation in the European Union. This work is based on the assessment of the impact national borders have on trade flows. He also published theoretical and empirical analysis of locations choices by multinational firms, studying in particular the extent and determinants of agglomeration patterns.

Megginson, William PhD (Florida State).  Professor Megginson’s research interests include international finance and corporate finance issues such as capital structure, venture capital and entrepreneurial finance, dividend policy and corporate control. Much of his recent research has focused on the privatization of state-owned enterprises, and he has recently served as a paid consultant for the Italian government, the New York Stock Exchange, the OECD, the International Federation of Stock Exchanges and Harvard and Princeton universities on the subject of listing privatized-firm shares on American stock markets. His teaching interests include corporate, international and entrepreneurial finance, and he won two teaching awards at the University of Georgia. Professor Megginson has published articles in several academic journals, including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Economic Literature,  Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking and Financial Management. His 1994 paper documenting performance improvements for newly privatized firms won a Smith Breeden Distinguished Paper Award for outstanding research published in the Journal of Finance. In addition, the paper has been reprinted by several publishing firms and organizations, including the World Bank. Professor Megginson is an associate editor for the Journal of Financial Research and has authored or co-authored four textbooks. Prior to entering academia, he worked for five years as a petroleum chemist in the oil refining and petro-chemical industries.

Mitra, Pradeep, is the World Bank’s Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia, a region which includes the countries of Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Turkey.  He was Chief of Country Operations for Russia during the mid-nineties and then served as Director in charge of the Bank’s economists working on poverty reduction, economic management and public sector institutional reform in the Europe and Central Asia region.  He has published widely in public economics, macroeconomics and development economics, including most recently, Transition: The First Ten Years, Analysis and Lessons for Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.  Mr. Mitra was educated in India and at Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Ofer, Gur is Harvey M. and Lyn P. Meyerhoff Emeritus Professor of Soviet Economics, at the Departments of Economics and of Russian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. ( www.economics.huji.ac.il ) He was one of the founders of the New Economic School (NES) in Moscow, a graduate school of economics in the Western transition, established in 1992 ( www.NES.ru ).For many years he served as its chair of the International Advisory Board. In 2004 he stepped down and remained a member of this board.    Gur Ofer wrote his Ph. D. dissertation at Harvard under Simon Kuznets and Abram Bergson, and worked extensively on the Soviet economy and the socialist system, and more recently on issues of transition its relations to economic development. Among his many publications are: The Service Sector in Soviet Economic Growth: A Comparative Study. Harvard UP, 1973; The Soviet Household Under the Old Regime: Economic Conditions and Behavior in the 1970s. (With Aaron Vinokur). Cambridge University Press 1992, a study based on in depth interviews of Russian immigrants; "Soviet Economic Growth: 1928‑1985: A Survey Article." JEL, December 1987; Reforming Planned Economies in an Integrating World Economy. (With Barry Bosworth), The Brookings Institution, 1995. “Development and Transition: Emerging but Merging?” Revue D’economie Financiere, (Special Issue), 2001. The Economic Prospects of the CIS: Sources of Long Term Growth since 1991 (Co-Editor with Richard Pomfret) Elgar Books, (2004). Over the years he served as a visiting scholar, among others, in Harvard, Columbia, Yale, The Rand Corporation, the Wilson Center, the Brooking Institution, the World Bank and NES. In Irsrael Gur Ofer worked on issues of the Welfare State and of Health Economics and is head of The Israel National Institute for Health Policy and Health Services Research ( www.israelhpr.org.il ). He served as a department chair and president of the Israeli Economic Association. Gur Ofer was born (1934) and educated in Jerusalem.

Panizza, Ugo is a senior economist in the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank.  Prior to joining the Bank he was an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Turin (Italy). He also held a visiting position in the Department of Economics at the American University of Beirut and worked in the Africa Region of the World Bank. Ugo has published more than 30 papers in professional journals and edited volumes. His research interests include political economy, international finance (with particular reference to the structure of external debt and the choice of the exchange rate regime in emerging market countries), banking, and public sector labor markets. Ugo holds a Laurea in political science and economics from the University of Turin and a Ph.D. in economics from the Johns Hopkins University.

Perry, Guillermo has been Chief Economist of the Latin America and Caribbean Region at the World Bank since 1996. Prior to joining the World Bank, Mr. Perry served in several senior policy-making positions in his native country, Colombia, including that of Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Minister of Mining and Energy; and Director of the General Directorate of National Taxes. He was also Director of two of Colombia’s leading economic think-tanks (Fedesarrollo and CEDE). Mr. Perry has been professor at Universidad de los Andes and Universidad Nacional de Colombia and served as a member of the Constitutional Assembly and of the Senate of the Republic in Colombia. Mr. Perry undertook doctoral studies in Economics and Operational Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology between 1968 and 1970. He has published several books (including, most recently, Beyond the City: the Rural Contribution to Development (World Bank, 2005); co-authored with David de Ferranti et al.) and numerous articles on a range of subjects covering macroeconomics, fiscal policy, financial policy, international finance, and energy policy issues. He is presently a member of the Governing Body of GDN, the Executive Committee of LACEA and the Board of Directors of Fedesarrollo. Mr. Perry’s professional experience also includes international consulting on public finance and energy policy for several institutions and governments around the world. September 2005.

Pleskovic, Boris is Research Manager, Development Economics at the World Bank. He previously served as the Chief Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister of Slovenia,1991-1992 and taught economics at MIT and the Universities of Illinois and Cincinnati. He serves as a board member of the World Bank Economic Review (Oxford Journals), Beyond Transition Newsletter and International Regional Science Review; has been the co-editor of twelve books: Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics (OUP) seven books: the Berlin Workshop Series, including Institutional Foundations of a Market Economy;  has published widely, including "Political Independence and Economic Reform in Slovenia," (with Jeffrey Sachs) in The Transition in Eastern Europe, Chicago University Press, 1994 and "Inter industry Flows in a General Equilibrium Model of Fiscal Incidence," Journal of Policy Modeling: (Special Issue in Honor of Nobel Laureate, Wassily Leontief), 1989. He was a Visiting Research Fellow at MIT and a Fullbright Fellow at Harvard University and decorated by Charles University on the occasion of its 650th anniversary, Prague, 1998. He serves as the President of the Slovenian World Congress, 2000 to present. He has a BA from the University of Ljubljana, MA from Harvard University and Ph.D. from MIT. Complete bio.

Solimano, Andres, a Chilean-Italian national, holds a PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts of Technology (MIT).  He is currently Regional Advisor at the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.  He was at the World Bank in Washington, DC for 10 years where he held positions of Director, Country Management Department, for Andean Countries (Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela) and Economic Advisor, Macroeconomics and Growth Division, Economics Research Group.  Mr. Solimano was also Executive Director for Chile and Ecuador at the Boards of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), and Representative of Chile at the Donors Committee of the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) in Washington, DC. Mr. Solimano was the Chairman of the Programming Committee of the Board of Executive Directors of the IDB.Mr. Solimano has edited several books and is also author of numerous articles on International Migration and Remittances, Political Economy, Savings, Investment and Economic Growth, Inequality, the Chilean Economy, Globalization, Economic Stabilization, Reform and Transition, and Labor Markets in professional journals and the press.

Svejnar, Jan is the Everett E. Berg Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Economics at the University of Michigan. He is also a founder and Chairman of the Executive and Supervisory Committee of CERGE-EI in Prague (an American-style Ph.D. program in economics that educates the new generation of economists for Central-East Europe and the Newly Independent States). He serves as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of CSOB Bank, Governing Board member of the European Economic Association, Co-Editor of the Economics of Transition. He is also a Fellow of the European Economic Association and Research Fellow of the Center for Economic Policy Research (London) and Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA, Bonn). From 1996 to 2004, Professor Svejnar was the Executive Director of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan Business School where he established a leading research and outreach program on business and economic policy issues relating to the transition and emerging market economies. From 1992 to 1997 he served as the Founding Director of the Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, establishing a leading western economic think tank in post communist countries. He also served as Co-Director of the Transition Programme at the Center for Economic Policy Research in London, President of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies, President of the International Association for the Economics of Labor-Management, Associate Editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, and advisor to numerous policy makers, institutions and firms, including President Vaclav Havel and Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla of the Czech Republic, OECD, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, GE Capital, Expandia Bank, and SPT Telecom. In the 1990s, he was one of the chief architects of the Czech Republic’s economic reforms. Jan’s academic interests are in the areas of economic development and transition, labor economics and behavior of the firm. His research focuses on the determinants and effects of (a) government policies on firms and labor and capital markets, (b) corporate and national governance and performance, and (c) entrepreneurship. He is the author and editor of a number of books and has published widely in leading academic, policy and practitioner-oriented journals in advanced and emerging market economies, including the American Economic Review, Econometrica, Economica, Economics of Transition, European Business Forum, European Economic Review, Journal of Comparative Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of the European Economic Association,  Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Journal of Labor Economics, Quarterly Journal of Economics, and Review of Economics and Statistics.

Tommasi, Mariano  (PhD in Economics, University of Chicago, 1991) is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Economics at Universidad de San Andres and Director of the Center of Studies for Institutional Development, both in Argentina. Prof. Tommasi is the President (2004-2005) of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association. He specializes in political economy and institutional economics, with focus on developing countries. Mariano has published several books and articles, in journals such as American Economic Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Monetary Economics, International Economic Review, Economics and Politics, Journal of Policy Reform, Economic Inquiry, Journal of International Economics, and Journal of Law, Economics and Organization.  He has also held visiting positions in the Departments of Economics and Political Sicence at Yale University, the Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professorship of Latin American Studies in the Department of Economics at Harvard University, the Ben Nathan Chair of Economics at Tel Aviv University, and a Visiting Professorship at the University of California - Los Angeles.  He has been an advisor to several Latin American governments, and to international organizations such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Stephenson, Matthew  is an assistant professor of law at Harvard Law School. He specializes in administrative law, environmental law, judicial politics,and the reform of public law institutions.  Before joining the Harvard Law School faculty, he served as a law clerk to Justice Anthony Kennedy of the United States Supreme Court and as a consultant to the World Bank's Thematic Group on Legal Institutions of the Market Economy.

Voight Stefan holds the chair for economic policy at the University of Kassel and is affiliated with the International Centre for Economic Research (ICER) in Torino, Italy. Previous positions include a professorship at Ruhr-University Bochum, a fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, and a research fellow position with the Max-Planck-Institute for Research Into Economic Systems.  His research focuses on the economic effects of constitutions and thus belongs to the research area of the New Institutional Economics. More specifically, current research focuses on the economic effects of the judiciary. In 2002, Voigt published a (German) textbook on the New Institutional Economics, in the fall of 2003, a two-volume set on critical writings in Constitutional Political Economy appeared with the publishing house Edward Elgar. Voigt is member of a number of editorial boards including those of Public Choice and Constitutional Political Economy.

Winters, Alan L.  is Director of the Development Research Group of the World Bank. He has worked previously in the Bank as Division Chief and Research Manager (1994-99) and Economist (1983-85). He is currently on leave from the University of Sussex where he is Professor of Economics. He is a Research Fellow and former Programme Director of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR, London) and has previously worked in the Universities of Cambridge, Bristol, Wales and Birmingham. He has been editor of the World Bank Economic Review, associate editor of the Economic Journal, and serves on numerous editorial boards. He has also advised, inter alia, the OECD, DfID, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the European Commission, the European Parliament, UNCTAD, the WTO, and the Inter-American Development Bank. L. Alan Winters is one of the world’s leading specialists on the empirical and policy analysis of international trade. He has published over two hundred books and articles in areas such as regional trading arrangements, non-tariff barriers, European Integration, transition economies' trade, agricultural protection, trade and poverty, and the world trading system. He has also published on migration, small economies, global warming, pricing behavior and econometrics. Complete bio.

Yemtsov, Ruslan  is Senior Economist, Regional Poverty Coordinator in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Department in the ECA Region, World Bank. Mr. Yemtsov joined the training institute  of the Bank in 1993, and since then has worked in the operational departments of the Bank on poverty, social policies and rural issues in Eastern Europe, CIS and India.  He has written  extensively and published research papers and book chapters on labor markets and household welfare in transition.

Zhang, Xiaobo a research fellow, conducts research on development strategies, governance, and public investment in developing countries. A citizen of China, Zhang earned a B.S. in mathematics from Nankai University, China; a M.S. in economics from Tianjin University of Economics and Finance, China; and a M.S. and Ph.D. in applied economics and management  from Cornell University in January 2000. Zhang joined IFPRI in 1998. He is the president of the Chinese Economists Society (CES) from 2005 to 2006. He is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Applied Economics.