Jan Švejnar


Jan Švejnar is a USA-based, Czech-born economist. He was a candidate for the 2008 election of the President of the Czech Republic.
Professor Švejnar is Director of the and Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is also a founder and Chairman of CERGE-EI in Prague. He also served as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ČSOB Bank and Co-Editor of the Economics of Transition. Since 2007, he is a member of the International Advisory Council of the Center for Social and Economic Research. He is also a Fellow of the European Economic Association and Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research and Institute for the Study of Labor.

Life

Švejnar went into exile in 1970 and later on graduated from Cornell University with a B.S in Industrial and Labor Relations. At Cornell Švejnar resided at the Telluride House. He obtained a Ph.D. in Economics at Princeton University. His 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 government policies on firms and labor and capital markets, corporate and national governance and performance, and entrepreneurship. He is the author and editor of a number of books and has published widely in 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, and many others.
In 2012, Švejnar was honored with a for lifelong achievement from the .

Run for Czech presidency

On December 14, 2007 he announced his candidacy for the position of Czech president in the upcoming indirect presidential election. His nomination came from a proposal of 10 Senators. In Parliament, his support was generally based on the Deputies and Senators elected for the Czech Social Democratic Party and the Green Party.
On February 8, 2008, Švejnar faced Václav Klaus, at that time the incumbent Czech president, in the first round of presidential election held within the both chambers of the Czech Parliament. In a second round on February 9, 2008, neither candidate gained the required majority of 140 votes in both chambers together. Václav Klaus received 139 and Jan Švejnar 113 votes out of 278 votes cast in both chambers together.
In a third round on February 15, Klaus was re-elected with 141 votes out of 279 lawmakers present, one more than the required minimum, while Švejnar received 111 votes. Klaus' victory margin was supplied by 3 MPs who were elected for the ČSSD.