About us
The Growth and Crisis Blog
The Growth and Crisis Blog is written by the staff of the World Bank Institute’s (WBI) Growth and Crisis Program (WBIGC). It is supported by the WBI's Multimedia Center and the WB's Information Solutions Group (ISG).
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Our aim is to share knowledge and improve our common understanding of the challenges brought by the recent global economic crisis and ways of accelerating growth. We look forward to an open, an on-going dialogue with anyone interested in Growth and Crisis issues. To facilitate this process, the blog tries to bring together everything you want to know about these topics: ideas, lecture notes, video clips and commentary on issues relating to the impacts of and policy responses to the global financial and economic crisis of 2008-09, and to the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of growth policies and strategies. We want to reach the participants in our courses, partners, researchers, academia, civil society, government officials and, in general, the broad public interested in rethinking development paradigms and policies.
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All of the Growth and Crisis Blog authors are members of the World Bank Institute’s Growth and Crisis Program (GC). Occasionally we will also have guest bloggers from outside WBIGC to comment on specific topics of their expertise. In all cases their posts are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the World Bank Group, its Board of Directors or the governments they represent. For more information, please see our content policy section.
Raj Nallari is a Lead Economist and Practice Leader for the Growth and Crisis Group of the World Bank Institute. During these 15 years of service in the international financial institutions, he has worked in country operations (in Africa, Caribbean and South Asia regions) of the World Bank and the Policy Development and Review of the IMF. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Texas at Austin and has co-authored a book published by Oxford University Press, several monographs and articles on development policy issues.
Otaviano Canuto is Vice President and Head of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) Network, a division of more than 700 economists and other professionals working on economic policy, poverty reduction, and analytic work for the World Bank’s client countries. He took up his position on May 4, 2009, after serving as the Vice President for Countries at the Inter-American Development Bank since June 2007.
Dr. Canuto provides strategic leadership and direction to Regional PREM units as well as groups working on economic policy formulation in the area of growth and poverty, debt, trade, gender, and public sector management and governance. He is also involved in managing the Bank’s overall interactions with key partner institutions including the IMF, the OECD and regional development banks. Dr. Canuto was Executive Director at the Board of the World Bank in 2004-2007. He also served in the Brazilian Ministry of Finance, where he was Secretary for International Affairs. He was Professor of Economics at the University of São Paulo and University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil.
Shahrokh Fardoust is currently Director, Operations and Strategy, in Development Economics Vice Presidency, at the World Bank. Prior to his current position he served as Senior Adviser to Director-General, the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank Group, and from 2001to 2006 he severed as Senior Economic Adviser to the Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. At the Bank since 1987, Mr. Fardoust has served in a number of operational assignments, including the Lead Economist for India, where he led a team of experts responsible for the economic policy dialogue with states of India. Before coming to the Bank, he held positions at the U.N. Secretariat, New York, as a visiting lecturer in Economics at Wharton School and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iran. Mr. Fardoust has a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Yevgeny Kuznetsov has joined World Bank in 1995 from Brookings Institution. A specialist in technological innovation, he focuses on political economy of reforms of innovation and higher education systems in middle income economies and India. He has acquired a unique perspective on reforms which blends insights of a practitioner (through cross-support to lending operations in Argentina, Chile, India, Mexico, Russia and other economies) and a scholar (more than 20 articles and books on innovation and knowledge-based growth). In recent years he also focuses on diasporas of highly skilled as change agents to promote institutional development in home countries.
Mauricio Leyva is a native New Yorker of Colombian and Peruvian descent. He earned the Posse Foundation full-tuition scholarship to attend Lafayette College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs. He then received a scholarship to attend Babson College's Business Edge Program that teaches entrepreneurship. From there he went on to take risky adventures at an entry level job at Lehman Brothers. After the financial crisis he went to work at the World Bank where he is currently a Junior Professional Associate with the Growth & Crisis Group. On his free time he serves on the board of the National Society of Hispanic MBA's for the DC Chapter and also serves on the Washington, DC's Posse Foundation board. Mauricio is passionate about finance, capital markets, business, international development, and education.
Ihssane Loudiyi a Junior Professional Associate in the Growth and Crisis Group at the World Bank Institute. She is involved in web management, research assistance, and program coordination, and participates in the planning of programs, delivery of activities, and capacity development. Ihssane holds two B.A. degrees in Economics & Business and Computer Science, and her areas of interest include cluster development, innovation and competitiveness, and private sector development. She has experience working with a number of regions in the Bank, including EAP and AFR.
Jean-Christophe Maur is a Senior Economist in the Growth and Competitiveness Program at the World Bank Institute. His current responsibilities in WBI include leading the regional integration program and contributing to the Development Debates platform. Jean-Christophe joined the World Bank in 2008 from the UK Department of International Development, where he was in charge of UK trade negotiations in several areas, and also of managing multilateral trade assistance. His research interests are regional trade integration and public goods, trade facilitation and non-tariff barriers, intellectual property rights, and trade institutions. Jean-Christophe has a Doctorate from Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, and is a graduate of Essec business school. He was also a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University.
Salomon Samen is a member of the World Bank Institute (WBI) Trade Group of the World Bank. Before joining WBI, he was Regional Trade Coordinator in the Africa region. He joined the World Bank in 1986 through the Young Professionals Program, and has had a variety of assignments in the World Bank including: Country Economist, Trade economist, Industrial economist, Regional trade Economist, and Country Manager. As a Trade Economist in the early 90s, he pioneered the formulation and conceptualization of the framework of Trade and Fiscal policy reforms in Central Africa and Western Africa. He led and/or was involved in several World Bank adjustment or investment operations in the Africa region for nearly 20 years. Since 2005 he has been teaching and organizing training for senior policy makers across the globe with a special focus on South Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Salomon holds an award winning Ph.D. in Economics (France, 1984) with specialization in Trade Policy and Industrial Development, and two Master’s degrees: a Master of Science in Finance (George Washington University, US,1998); and a MA in Economics (University of Yaoundé, Cameroon, 1982). Prior to joining the World Bank, he taught trade and growth at Universities in France and Cameroon.
Ravi Yatawara is a Senior Economist in the Growth and Competitiveness Program at the World Bank Institute. He is the manager of the World Trade Indicators 2010 project and has been working on the impact of the global recession on developing countries, and their policy responses to it. His research interest are in political economy of trade reform, competitiveness, trade and poverty, gender, the interaction between trade and macroeconomic policies and regional integration. He has held faculty positions at Columbia University and the University of Delaware, and has also worked for the government of Sri Lanka. He received a B.A (Phi Beta Kappa) from Reed College, and a Phd in Economics from Columbia University.
Past Bloggers:
Mr. Fofack is a Professional and Research Economist with over 15 years of experience in academia and international development. He is currently responsible of the Macroeconomic and Growth Program at the World Bank Institute, the knowledge and research arm of the World Bank Group. His interest is primarily in development economics, growth, banking and finance, science and technology. Mr. Fofack is the Founder of the Nelson Mandela Institution for Knowledge Building and the Advancement of Science and Technology in Sub-Saharan Africa, an independent ground-breaking African initiative to enhance the development of Africa through the promotion of excellence in science, engineering and their applications.
Mr. Fofack holds an Advanced Degree in International Economics and Finance from France, a Master degree in Mathematical Statistics and a PhD in Applied Statistics and Economics from American University, Washington, DC. Mr. Fofack has published extensively and is a member of some leading professional and scientific organizations, including The African Academy of Sciences and the American Economic Association.
A Spanish national, Ignacio Hernandez has worked as a consultant for the World Bank Institute’s Poverty and Growth Program for the last 4 years, supporting capacity building programs and the unit’s outreach activities. He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from Georgetown University and another in International Management from ESCP – EAP, and has previous experience working in Private Sector Development and International Trade. He is also a keen photographer.
Dr. Yan WANG is Senior Economist and task team leader at The World Bank Institute. Her responsibilities include managing a few training courses on Capital Flow Volatility, trade and growth, and an IDF project for Capacity Building. Her recent research include “Foreign Bank Entry and Domestic Bank Performance: Evidence using Bank-level Data”; and “Impact of Service Sector Liberalization in China using CGE Analysis.” She has received several awards including the SUN Yefang Award in Economics, published extensively in academic journals and several books, e.g. The Quality of Growth (2000), and contributed to WB Country Reports including China: Promoting Growth with Equity, Country Economic Memorandum 2003. Before joining WBI, she was an economist in the East Asia Region of the World Bank. She holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University, and taught economics as an assistant professor before joining the World Bank.
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The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the World Bank Group, its Board of Directors or the governments they represent.
Many of the links on this blog will take you to sites operated by third parties. Neither the World Bank Group nor the authors of this blog have reviewed all of the information on these sites or the accuracy or reliability of any information, data, opinions, advice or statements meant on these sites. The World Bank Group does not endorse these sites, their opinions or any products they may offer. These third party links are offered to stimulate discussion and thinking on topics related to international development and poverty alleviation.
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For any inquiry, please contact Mauricio at:
mleyva [@] worldbank.org
