Patrick Honohan (born 9 October 1949) is an Irish economist and public servant who served as the

Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland The Central Bank of Ireland () is the national central bank for Ireland within the Eurosystem. It was the Irish central bank from 1943 to 1998, issuing the Irish pound. It is also the country's main financial regulatory authority, and since 20 ...

from 2009 to 2015 (and as such was a member of the Governing Council of the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...

). He has been a nonresident senior fellow at the

Peterson Institute for International Economics The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), known until 2006 as the Institute for International Economics (IIE), is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded by C. Fred Bergsten in 1981 and has been led by ...

since 2016. His period in office as Governor was mainly focused on resolving the

Post-2008 Irish banking crisis The post-2008 Irish banking crisis was when a number of Irish financial institutions faced almost imminent collapse due to insolvency during the Great Recession. In response, the Irish government instigated a €64 billion bank bailout. This the ...

Education

Honohan graduated with a B.A. in

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and

Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

from

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

in 1971 and an M.A. in Economics from the same institution in 1973. His postgraduate study continued at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

where he received an M.Sc. in

Econometrics Econometrics is an application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics", '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...

and Mathematical Economics (1974) and a PhD in Economics (1978).

Professional career

Before pursuing postgraduate research, Honohan took a position with 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 ...

in 1971. While completing his PhD, he joined the economics staff of the

Central Bank of Ireland The Central Bank of Ireland () is the national central bank for Ireland within the Eurosystem. It was the Irish central bank from 1943 to 1998, issuing the Irish pound. It is also the country's main financial regulatory authority, and since 2 ...

. During the Irish fiscal crisis of the 1980s, he was Economic Advisor to

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Garret FitzGerald Garret Desmond FitzGerald (9 February 192619 May 2011) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, economist, and barrister who served twice as Taoiseach, serving from 1981 to 1982 and 1982 to 1987. He served as Leader of Fine Gael from 1977 to 1987 an ...

, working on issues as diverse as income tax and social welfare, restructuring of failing state-owned enterprises, legislative reform for building societies, the governance of national statistics provision, and the devaluation of the Irish pound in August 1986. Honohan spent seven years as a Research Professor with the

Economic and Social Research Institute The Economic and Social Research Institute (Institiúid Taighde Eacnamaíochta agus Sóisialta in Irish) is an Irish research institute founded in 1960 to provide evidence-based research used to inform public policy debate and decision-making. ...

before returning in 1998 to the World Bank (where he had worked between 1987 and 1990) as a Lead Economist and subsequently Senior Advisor. At the World Bank he published research on financial sector issues, drawing on policy advice and analysis in a wide range of emerging and developing economies from China and Viet Nam to Egypt, Iran and Tanzania, among others, as well as in the CFA franc, Rand and Eastern Caribbean currency unions. He was involved in the design and development of the joint World Bank-

IMF 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 la ...

Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), and led several FSAP missions including the first (Lebanon, 1999). The author of numerous academic papers and monographs, Honohan has taught economics at the LSE,

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

and University College Dublin. In 2007, he was appointed Professor of International Financial Economics and Development at

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

. His academic work has focused on such topics as the prevention and management of banking crises, financial liberalization, dollarization, and the impact on poverty in developing countries of expanding access to financial services. His analysis of the link between Irish and UK labour markets and the distorting impact of the activities of multinational corporations on Irish macro-economic statistics also received attention. In September 2009, Honohan was appointed as the tenth governor of the

. In this position he acquired a reputation as a "straight talker" who would not follow the " green jersey agenda" (a major criticism of the Central Bank of Ireland pre-crisis, see criticisms of the Irish Central Bank). His May 2010 Report on the Irish Banking Crisis provided an in-depth analysis of the regulatory and supervisory shortcomings that had contributed to the post-2008 Irish Banking Crisis. The turnaround in the Central Bank's international reputation during his tenure was cemented in January 2016 when it won "Central Bank of the Year" in the awards announced b
CentralBanking.com
His role in management of the Irish banking and fiscal crisis, entailing extensive provision of central bank liquidity, recapitalization — at the expense of their shareholders — of all of the banks (and the liquidation of some), and a restructuring of unsustainable debts, all of which required financial support from the IMF, European Union funds and the European Central Bank, is described in his 2019 volume ''Currency, Credit and Crisis''.

Quotations

Since his retirement from the Central Bank of Ireland, Honohan has been critical of the level of distortion that U.S. multinational BEPS tools have been having on Ireland's national accounts. Distortion of economic data is a common problem for

corporate tax haven Corporate haven, corporate tax haven, or multinational tax haven is used to describe a jurisdiction that multinational corporations find attractive for establishing subsidiaries or incorporation of regional or main company headquarters, mostly due ...

s and Ireland is considered one of the world's largest havens. During the famous

leprechaun economics Leprechaun economics () was a term coined by economist Paul Krugman to describe the 26.3 per cent rise in Irish 2015 Gross domestic product, GDP, later revised to 34.4 per cent, in a 12 July 2016 publication by the Central Statistics Office ( ...

affair, he made the following comment: He has said the following about credit booms:

Other activities

(ECB), Chair of the Ethics Committee (2019–22)Decisions taken by the Governing Council of the ECB (in addition to decisions setting interest rates)

(ECB), press release of 27 September 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Honohan, Patrick 1949 births Living people 20th-century Irish economists Post-2008 Irish economic downturn

Banking crisis A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe the bank may fail in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking system (where banks normally only ...

Alumni of University College Dublin Alumni of the London School of Economics Economy of the Republic of Ireland Real estate bubbles of the 2000s Governors of the Central Bank of Ireland Peterson Institute for International Economics 21st-century Irish economists Members of the Royal Irish Academy People educated at Coláiste Mhuire, Dublin

Education

Professional career

Quotations

Other activities

See also

References