Erik Berglöf

Professor Erik Berglof became the inaugural Director of the Institute of Global Affairs (IGA) on 1 February 2015. He joined the School as a Professor in Practice in the Department of Economics. Previously he was the Chief Economist and Special Adviser to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). 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. Prior to joining the EBRD in 2006, Erik Berglof held the position of Director of the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) and Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics and a Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. He has also been Assistant Professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and held visiting positions at Harvard, Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Currently, Berglof is Treasurer of the International Economic Association, Member of the Governing Board of the Institute for New Economic Thinking in New York, Board Member and Research Fellow of the European Corporate Governance Institute in Brussels, and Executive Board Member of the New Economic School in Moscow. He is a Research Fellow and former Programme Director at the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London. He has written extensively on financial contracting and corporate governance. In particular, he has applied theoretical insights to the study of differences between financial systems, and specific ownership and control arrangements. More recently, his work has focused on bankruptcy. He has also been involved in several capacity-building initiatives in transition countries, including as Director of the Center for Economics and Financial Research (CEFIR) in Moscow and the Baltic International Center for Economic Policy Studies (BICEPS) in Riga. He has served as Special Adviser to the Prime Minister of Sweden and on several government commissions and EU-related panels. In addition, he has been a consultant to the World Bank and the IMF. In 2013 he was awarded the Leontief Medal for his contributions to economic reforms.