Jacob Aharon Frenkel ( he, יעקב אהרן פרנקל; born 8 February 1943) is an Israeli economist and the Chairman of

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the ...

International. He served as Governor of the Bank of Israel between 1991 and 2000.

Biography

Frenkel was born in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

. He earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in economics at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. He earned his Ph.D. in 1970 with thesis titled
Money, Wealth and the Balance of Payments in a Model of Accumulation
'.

Banking and financial career

Frenkel is currently the Chairman of

International, which executes the international strategy of the American financial services firm. He also serves as Chairman and CEO of the

Group of Thirty The Group of Thirty, often abbreviated to G30, is an international body of financiers and academics which aims to deepen understanding of economic and financial issues and to examine consequences of decisions made in the public and private sec ...

(G-30), which is a private, nonprofit, consultative group on international economic and monetary affairs. Frenkel served from 2004 to 2009 as Vice Chairman of

American International Group American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/amer ...

(AIG) and from 2000 to 2004 as Chairman of Merrill Lynch International, as well as Chairman of Merrill Lynch’s Sovereign Advisory and Global Financial Institutions Groups. Between 1991 and 2000 he served two terms as the Governor of the Bank of Israel. He is credited with reducing inflation in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and achieving price stability, liberalizing Israel’s financial markets, removing

foreign exchange controls Foreign exchange controls are various forms of controls imposed by a government on the purchase/sale of foreign currencies by residents, on the purchase/sale of local currency by nonresidents, or the transfers of any currency across national bor ...

, and integrating the Israeli economy into the

global financial system The global financial system is the worldwide framework of legal agreements, institutions, and both formal and informal economic actors that together facilitate international flows of financial capital for purposes of investment and trade finan ...

. During 1995–1996, Frenkel served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank and, during 1999–2000, as Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Between 1987 and 1991, he was the Economic Counselor and Director of Research at the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

, and between 1973 and 1987 he was on the faculty of the

where he held the position of the David Rockefeller Professor of International Economics and served as Editor of the Journal of Political Economy. He is a fellow of the

Econometric Society The Econometric Society is an international society of academic economists interested in applying statistical tools to their field. It is an independent organization with no connections to societies of professional mathematicians or statisticians. ...

, a foreign honorary member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

, a member of the Board of Directors of the

National Bureau of Economic Research The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...

, a former member of the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the

Trilateral Commission The Trilateral Commission is a nongovernmental international organization aimed at fostering closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe and North America. It was founded in July 1973 principally by American banker and philanthropist David ...

, a member of the board of the Council for the United States and Italy, a member of the Investment Advisory Council of the Prime Minister of Turkey, and a member of the International Advisory Council of the China Development Bank. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics. In June 2013 he was nominated to be the Governor of the Bank of Israel for a second time. In July 2013, following official inquiries into an event that took place in Hong Kong Airport in November 2006, he withdrew his nomination. Frankel denied any wrongdoing but authorities in Hong Kong stated that he had been arrested at the airport for suspected theft of a suit bag from a

duty-free shop A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, wh ...

. Frenkel did not disclose the incident to the Committee on Senior Appointments, which vetted his nomination for a new governor of the Bank of Israel.

Other activities

Frenkel serves on the Leadership Council for Concordia, a nonpartisan, nonprofit based in New York City focused on promoting effective public-private collaboration to create a more prosperous and sustainable future. In early 2021, he was appointed by the

G20 The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigatio ...

to the High Level Independent Panel (HLIP) on financing the global commons for pandemic preparedness and response, co-chaired by

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (; born 13 June 1954) is a Nigerian economist, who has been serving as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization since March 2021. Notably, she is the first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organiza ...

Tharman Shanmugaratnam Tharman Shanmugaratnam (Tamil: தர்மன் சண்முகரத்தினம்; born 25 February 1957) is a Singaporean politician and economist who has been serving as Senior Minister of Singapore since 2019 and has also been C ...

and

Lawrence Summers Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist who served as the 71st United States secretary of the treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as pres ...

.Ministry of Economy and FinanceThe G20 establishes a High Level Independent Panel on financing the Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
Ministry of Economy and Finance, press release of January 27, 2021.

Awards and recognition

Frenkel won the 2002 Israel Prize in Economics. He received the Tel-Aviv University Hugo Ramniceanu Prize for Economics, the Czech Karel Englis Prize in Economics, the “Order de Mayo al Merito” (in the rank of Gran Cruz) decoration from the Government of Argentina and the “Order of Merit” (in the rank of Cavaliere di Gran Croce) decoration from the Republic of Italy. He is also a recipient of several Honorary Doctoral degrees and other decorations and awards, including the “1993 Economic Policy Award” by “Emerging Markets” and the “1997 Central Banker of the Year Award” by “Euromoney”.

Published works

* Frenkel, Jacob A. "Current Problems of the International Monetary System: Reflections on European Monetary Integration." Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv 111 (No. 2, 1975): 216–21. * All

NBER The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...

publications by Jacob Frenkel

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Frenkel, Jacob A. 1943 births American International Group Fellows of the Econometric Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Governors of the Bank of Israel Group of Thirty Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Social Sciences alumni International Monetary Fund people Israel Prize in economics recipients Israeli chief executives Israeli economists Israeli expatriates in the United States Israeli Jews Israeli officials of the United Nations Jews in Mandatory Palestine JPMorgan Chase people Living people Merrill (company) people Peterson Institute for International Economics University of Chicago alumni University of Chicago faculty Journal of Political Economy editors