Stijn Claessens


Stijn Claessens is a Dutch economist who currently serves as the Head of Financial Stability Policy department of the Bank for International Settlements. He worked for fourteen years at World Bank beginning in 1987 until 2001 where he assumed various positions including that of Lead Economist. Following his tenure at the World Bank he became Professor of International Finance Policy at the University of Amsterdam where he remained for three years and still is on the faculty. Stijn has many distinguished academic publications and his work has been cited in many outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Economist, The Washington Post and various other publications and he has appeared in several television programs.

Early life

Claessens was born in Udenhout, the Netherlands on June 19, 1959. Claessens attended Erasmus University in Rotterdam where, in May 1979, he received his bachelor's in Business Economics, and later, in 1981, his Bachelor of Laws. He then went on to receive his doctorate in Business Economics in 1984 and applied for further education at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Academic career

During his time at Wharton he was a Research Fellow and taught International Financial Management, Micro-economic Theory & Monetary Economics to aspiring MBA students. In the Spring of 1987 he taught at New York University as a visiting Assistant Professor of International Corporate Finance and International Financial Management. In mid-1987 he joined the World Bank as a Financial Officer, becoming a Lead Economist towards the end of his fourteen-year tenure at the Bank. He moved back to The Netherlands, to join the University of Amsterdam as the Professor of International Finance Policy in 2001 where he taught for three years and is still currently on staff as a professor.
In September 2004 after relocating back to the United States he rejoined the World Bank assuming the position of Senior Adviser to the Vice-President for Financial Setor at the Bank. He left the Bank in January 2007 to join The International Monetary Fund IMF as the Chief of the Financial Studies Division in the Research Department. Currently he is also the assistant director, reporting to Olivier Blanchard. Claessens remains a fellow at the Wharton School and at the London-based CEPR, among other networks.
Stijn Claessens has written extensively on issues in international economics and finance, including on firm finance, corporate governance, internationalization of financial services, risk management, and international finance. He currently works on business and financial cycles.

Policy and Operational Work

Claessens has worked on various countries, including operational missions to: Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Poland, the Philippines, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Thailand, and Turkey.
Current research and operational focus: enterprise and financial sector restructuring in
transition economies and developing countries; sovereign asset liability management; corporate governance
and capital markets development; internationalization of financial services; business and financial cycles.

Consultancies

, Bank for International Settlements, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Asian Development Bank Institute, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Author

Claessens has written papers with distinguished economists including Paul Krugman, and his work has been cited by Joseph Stiglitz. His work in the field of corporate governance has been quoted, especially The Separation of Ownership and Control in East Asian Corporations with Djankov, Simeon and Lang, Larry. His published work total over 190 books and papers; many have been cited in works such as Globalization and Its Discontents and Restoring Financial Stability: How to Repair a Failed System.
His research has been published in the Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Finance and Quarterly Journal of Economics. He has edited several books, including International Financial Contagion Resolution of Financial Distress and A Reader in International Corporate Finance.

Published works

Books (authored or coauthored)