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hosted by Professor Renaud Dehousse


Robert A. Mundell (1932-2021) was a member of the Johns Hopkins SAIS international economics faculty and taught at SAIS Europe for four years, during the period 1959-2001. Much of his pioneering work in monetary dynamics and optimum currency areas, which resulted in his Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science in 1999, was conducted during his time in Bologna.

The Lecture is part of the broader Johns Hopkins SAIS Global Risk Conference which has been made possible with the generous support of Mr. James K. Anderson, SAIS Europe Alumnus and Advisory Council member, and Johns Hopkins University Trustee.

ANDRÉS VELASCO

Andrés Velasco is Dean of the School of Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

In 2017-18 he was a member of the G20 Eminent Persons Group. During 2015-16 he co-chaired the Global Panel on the Future of the Multilateral Lending Institutions, and from 2013-16 he was a member of the Global Oceans Commission.

Velasco was a presidential candidate in Chile in 2013. He also was the Minister of Finance of Chile between March 2006 and March 2010. During his tenure he was recognized as Latin American Finance Minister of the Year by several international publications. His work to save Chile´s copper windfall and create a rainy-day fund was highlighted in the Financial Times, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, among many others.

From 2013-17 Velasco was Professor of Professional Practice in International Development at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University. From 2000-2006 he was Sumitomo-FASID Professor of International Finance and Development at the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to that he was Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University.

Velasco received a BA in Economics and Philosophy and an MA in International Relations from Yale University. He holds a PhD in Economics from Columbia University and was a postdoctoral fellow in political economy at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Velasco is the author of nearly one hundred academic articles, several academic books and two novels. He was president of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) from 2005 to 2007. In February 2006 he received the Award for Excellence in Research from the Inter-American Development Bank.

He has also served as a consultant to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and to governments, central banks and private businesses around the world.