Stephany Griffith-Jones (born Stepanka Novy Kafka on 5 June 1947) is an

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

specializing in

international finance International finance (also referred to as international monetary economics or international macroeconomics) is the branch of monetary economics, monetary and macroeconomics, macroeconomic interrelations between two or more countries. Internation ...

and

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

. Her expertise lies in the reform of the

international financial system The global financial system is the worldwide framework of legal agreements, institutions, and both formal and informal agent (economics), economic action that together facilitate international flows of financial capital for purposes of investme ...

, particularly in

financial regulation Financial regulation is a broad set of policies that apply to the financial sector in most jurisdictions, justified by two main features of finance: systemic risk, which implies that the failure of financial firms involves public interest consi ...

global governance Global governance (or world governance) refers to institutions that coordinate the behavior of transnationality, transnational actors, facilitate cooperation, resolve disputes, and alleviate collective action problems. Global governance broadly ...

, and international capital flows. Currently, she serves as a member of the Governor Board at the

Central Bank of Chile The Central Bank of Chile () is the central bank of Chile. It was established in 1925 and is incorporated into the current Chilean Constitution as an autonomous institution of constitutional rank. Its monetary policy is currently guided by an infl ...

. She has held various positions throughout her career, including financial markets director at the

Initiative for Policy Dialogue The Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD) is a non-profit organization based at Columbia University in the United States. IPD was founded in July 2000 by Joseph E. Stiglitz, with support of the Ford, Rockefeller, McArthur, and Mott Foundations an ...

based at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

,Initiative for Policy Dialogue website
/ref> associate fellow at the

Overseas Development Institute ODI Global (formerly Overseas Development Institute) is a global affairs think tank, founded in 1960. Its mission is "to inspire people to act on injustice and inequality through collaborative research and ideas that matter for people and the ...

, and professorial fellow at the

Institute of Development Studies An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

Sussex University The University of Sussex is a public research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the South Downs National Park, and provide ...

. Griffith-Jones has an extensive background in international organizations, having worked as deputy director of International Finance at the

Commonwealth Secretariat The Commonwealth Secretariat is the main intergovernmental agency and central institution of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is responsible for facilitating co-operation between members; organising meetings, including the Commonwealth Heads of ...

, and for the

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) is part of the United Nations Secretariat and is responsible for the follow-up to major United Nations Summits and Conferences, as well as services to the United Nations Econ ...

and the

United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC, ECLAC or ''CEPAL'', in Spanish: ''Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe'') is a United Nations regional commission to encourage economic cooper ...

. Her career began in 1970 at the Central Bank of Chile, and she also gained experience at Barclays Bank International in the UK before joining the Institute of Development Studies. She has served as a senior consultant to governments in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

and

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, as well as to international agencies such as the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

, the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

, and the

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the United Nations General Assembl ...

. Griffith-Jones was a member of the Warwick Commission on international financial reform. As an author, Griffith-Jones has published over 20 books and has written numerous scholarly and journalistic articles. One of her notable works is the book ''Time for the Visible Hand: Lessons from the 2008 Crisis'', which she co-edited with

José Antonio Ocampo José Antonio Ocampo Gaviria (born 20 December 1952) is a Colombians, Colombian writer, economist and academic who was the professor of professional practice in international and public affairs and director of the Economic and Political Developme ...

and

Joseph Stiglitz Joseph Eugene Stiglitz (; born February 9, 1943) is an American New Keynesian economist, a public policy analyst, political activist, and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2 ...

, published in 2010. Griffith-Jones was born in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and moved to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

at the age of one. She received her primary and secondary education in Chile and graduated from the

University of Chile The University of Chile () is a public university, public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

. Notably, she is the niece of

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

. She adopted her current surname after marrying British mathematician Robert Griffith-Jones. Additionally, she served as an economic advisor to Chilean president

Gabriel Boric Gabriel Boric Font (; born 11 February 1986) is a Chilean politician and the President of Chile since 2022. He previously served two four-year terms as a deputy in the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, Chamber of Deputies. Boric first gained prom ...

during his presidential campaign.

Contributions to economic analysis and policy

Griffith-Jones has contributed to research and policy suggestions on how to make the domestic and international financial system more stable so it can better serve the needs of inclusive economic development and the

real economy The real economy concerns the production, purchase and flow of goods and services (like oil, bread and labour) within an economy. It is contrasted with the financial economy, which concerns the aspects of the economy that deal purely in transa ...

. One of her first articles, ''The Growth of Multinational Banking, the Euro-currency market and their effects on developing countries'' in the Journal of Development Studies, published in 1980, warned of the risk of excessive international

bank lending In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the debt ( ...

developing economies A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreemen ...

. Her 1986 book with Osvaldo Sunkel, ''Debt and Development Crises in Latin America: The End of An Illusion'', showed the negative effects of the 1980s

Latin American debt crisis The Latin American debt crisis (; ) was a financial crisis that originated in the early 1980s (and for some countries starting in the 1970s), often known as '' La Década Perdida'' (The Lost Decade), when Latin American countries reached a point ...

on the region's economic development. She was an early advocate of debt relief in

and

Sub-saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

. Writing with Ricardo Ffrench-Davis in the 1990s she contributed to the debate on how

could curb and manage volatile

capital flows In economics, capital goods or capital are "those durable produced goods that are in turn used as productive inputs for further production" of goods and services. A typical example is the machinery used in a factory. At the macroeconomic level, ...

. She again warned of the risks of costly

financial crises A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with Bank run#Systemic banki ...

if sufficient measures such as

capital controls Capital controls are residency-based measures such as transaction taxes, other limits, or outright prohibitions that a nation's government can use to regulate flows from capital markets into and out of the country's capital account. These meas ...

were not implemented. After several financial crises, mainly in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...

, she started in the mid-1990s to advocate capital flow regulations in capital source countries as a way to curb excessive and volatile

. She believed this would reduce the risk of major reversals of capital flows and the

that result from them. This is further discussed in her 1998 book ''Global Capital Flows, should they be regulated?'' In the discussion on reform of the international financial architecture she contributed to the analysis of crisis prevention, especially through financial regulation and more effective financial crisis management. For example, she advocated

special drawing rights Special drawing rights (SDRs, code ) are supplementary foreign exchange reserve assets defined and maintained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). SDRs are units of account for the IMF, and not a currency ''per se''. They represent a claim ...

issues by the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

(IMF) as a means to provide official

liquidity Liquidity is a concept in economics involving the convertibility of assets and obligations. It can include: * Market liquidity In business, economics or investment, market liquidity is a market's feature whereby an individual or firm can quic ...

when private capital flows fall sharply. She also advocated expanded and less conditional IMF lending so countries do not have to unnecessarily adjust their economies, especially in the face of financial crises or other external shocks. Writing with

since the late 1990s they expanded the concept of

counter-cyclical Procyclical and countercyclical variables are variables that fluctuate in a way that is positively or negatively correlated with business cycle fluctuations in gross domestic product (GDP). The scope of the concept may differ between the context ...

reform of the

to help stabilise capital flows and domestic private lending. The aim was to avoid frequent costly crises, facilitate

macro-economic Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. This includes regional, national, and global economies. Macroeconomists study topics such as output (econ ...

management and to achieve stable and inclusive economic growth in developing countries. She has worked on practical policy applications of these ideas. She has advocated reform of compensatory financing at the IMF in the face of external shocks to make it larger, speedier and with less

conditionality In political economy and international relations, conditionality is the use of conditions attached to the provision of benefits such as a loan, debt relief or bilateral aid. These conditions are typically imposed by international financial insti ...

. Similarly she was an early supporter of expanding development banks - nationally, regionally and multilaterally - and their role in

lending. She has also advocated the issue of GDP-linked bonds as a

mechanism to reduce the risk of

."A bond that insures against instability"
with

Robert J. Shiller Robert James Shiller (born March 29, 1946) is an American economist, academic, and author. As of 2022, he served as a Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University and is a fellow at the Yale School of Management's International Center fo ...

, The Financial Times, July 10, 2006 She has long supported the idea of counter-cyclical regulation. These and other practical measures are aimed at reforming the

financial system A financial system is a system that allows the exchange of funds between financial market participants such as lenders, investors, and borrowers. Financial systems operate at national and global levels. Financial institutions consist of comple ...

so that it supports stable inclusive economic growth without costly

Publications

; Selected books: * 2010, ''Time for a Visible Hand: Lessons from the 2008 World Financial Crisis'', edited with

and

, Oxford University Press, 2010 * 2007, ''International Finance and Development'', with

and

Jan Kregel Jan A. Kregel (born 19 April 1944) is an American post-Keynesian economist. Kregel has served since 2006 as Professor of Finance and Development at Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia. He is an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins S ...

, Orient Longman, 2007 * 2003, ''From Capital Surges to Drought, Seeking Stability for Emerging Economies'', edited with Ricardo Ffrench-Davis, Palgrave, 2003 * 2003, ''International Capital Flows in Calm and Turbulent Times, The Need for New International Architecture'', edited with Ricardo Gottschalk and Jacques Cailloux, The University of Michigan Press, 2003 * 2001, ''Managing Capital Surges in Emerging Markets'', edited with Manuel Montes and Anwar Nasution, Oxford University Press, 2001 * 1999, ''Private Capital Flows to Africa'', with Louis Kasekende and Matthew Martin et al., FONDAD, 1999 * 1998, ''Global Capital Flows, should they be regulated?'' with preface by

Nobel prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

winner

James Tobin James Tobin (March 5, 1918 – March 11, 2002) was an American economist who served on the Council of Economic Advisers and consulted with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and taught at Harvard University, Harvard and Yale Uni ...

, Macmillan and St. Martin's Press, 1998 * 1995, ''Coping With Capital Surges: The Return of Finance to Latin America'', edited with Ricardo Ffrench-Davis, Lynne Rienner, 1995 * 1994, ''Financial Sector Reform in Central and Eastern Europe'', edited with Z. Drabek, Macmillan, 1994 * 1992, ''Debt, Cross-Conditionality and Banking Regulations'', edited with Ennio Rodriguez, Macmillan, 1992 * 1986, ''Debt and Development Crises in Latin America: The End of An Illusion'', with Osvaldo Sunkel, Oxford University Press, 1986 ; Selected book chapters * * 2010, “Agenda and Criteria for Financial regulatory Reform” with Jane D’Arista in Griffith-Jones, Ocampo and Stiglitz (eds.), ''Time for a Visible Hand: Lessons from the 2008 World Financial Crisis'', Oxford University Press * 2008, "The Pro-cyclical Impact of Basle II on Emerging Markets and its Political Economy" with Avinash Persaud, in Stiglitz and Ocampo (eds.), ''Capital market liberalization and Development'', Oxford University Press * 2005, “Should capital controls have a place in the future international monetary system?” with Ricardo Gottschalk and John Williamson, in Marc Uzan (ed), ''The future of the International Monetary System'', Elgar * 1991, "International financial markets: a case of market failure" in Christopher Colclough and James Manor (eds.), ''States or Markets? Neo-liberalism and the Development Policy Debate'', Oxford University Press ; Selected articles in journals * 2003, “How to Prevent the New Basel Capital Accord Harming Developing Countries”, Presented at ''IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings September 2003'' * 2003, "Basel II and Developing Countries: Diversification and Portfolio Effects" with Miguel Segoviano and Stephen Spratt, ''ECLAC Review'' * 2000, "Proposals for a Better International Financial System", ''World Economics'', vol. 2, April – June. * 1992, "Conversion of official bilateral debt: opportunities and issues", ''Proceedings of World Bank Annual Conference on Development Economics'' * 1991, "Creditor countries' banking and fiscal regulations: can changes encourage debt relief?", ''Journal of Development Studies'', 27 (3): April * 1985, "Ways forward from the debt crisis", ''Oxford Review of Economic Policy'', 2 (1), Winter. ; Selected articles in popular press: * 2012
Osborne will score a financial own-goal tomorrow
New Statesman, Dec 2012 * 2012
Stimulating Europe
The FT, June 2012 * 2012
Historic moment for the IMF
The FT, May 2012 * 2012
Why critics are wrong about a financial-transaction tax
with

Avinash Persaud Avinash D. Persaud (born 22 June 1966 in Barbados, West Indies) is emeritus Professor of Gresham College in the UK. He was the Chairman of Intelligence Capital Ltd., a company specializing in analyzing, managing and creating financial liquidity ...

, European Voice, March 2012 * 2012
Transforming the financial sector from a bad master to a good servant
Left Foot Forward, February 2012 * 2010
"The Movers and the Makers"
The Broker * 2010
"The reform of financial markets"
El Pais (Spanish), June 2010 * 2009
"Now let's tax transactions"
The Guardian * 2006

with

, Financial Times, July 2006 * 2003
"Encouraging Capital Flows in times of drought"
The Banker, July 2003 * 2003

Financial Times, May 2003 * 2001

The Guardian, November 2001 ; Video and online sources * 2012, , Al Jazeera, July 2012 * 2012

Bloomberg, July 2012 * 2012
Insider Trading on a Massive Scale
The Real News Network, July 2012

References

External links

Homepage of Stephany Griffith-Jones

Institute for Policy Dialogue bio

Stephany Griffith-Jones discusses UNCTADs Least Developed Countries Report 2010
– recording on YouTube of the event held in November 2010
Financial Transaction Tax would have a positive impact on growth and jobs – European Parliament
– recording on YouTube, February 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffith-Jones, Stephany 1947 births Living people American development economists Financial economists New Keynesian economists Alumni of the University of Cambridge University of Chile alumni Academics of the University of Sussex 20th-century American writers 21st-century American writers 20th-century American economists 21st-century American economists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Columbia University faculty American women academics

Contributions to economic analysis and policy

Publications

See also

References

External links