Topic: Global Economy

Oliver Hart

Sir Oliver Hart is currently the Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1993. He is the 2016 co-recipient of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Hart’s research centers on the roles that ownership structure and contractual arrangements play in the governance and boundaries of corporations.

His recent work focuses on how parties can write better contracts, and on the social responsibility of business. He has published a book (Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure, Oxford University Press, 1995) and numerous journal articles. He has used his theoretical work on firms and contracts in several legal cases.

He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the British Academy, and the American Finance Association, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, and has several honorary degrees. He has been president of the American Law and Economics Association and a vice president of the American Economic Association.

He was made a Knight Bachelor in the King’s Birthday Honours List, 2023.

Fan Gang

Fan Gang is one of China’s most influential economists, and one of China’s leading reform advocates.  He is Director of China’s National Economic Research Institute (NERI), and Secretary-General of the China Reform Foundation, China’s first economic think-tank.

He was previously a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the People’s Bank of China (2006-10), and is currently a highly respected advisor to the Chinese Central Government on economic reform and strategic development. He is Professor of Economics at Peking University, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

Fan is both an influential opinion leader in China, as well as internationally. An expert in the macroeconomics of long-term development, international trade and currency, foreign relations and China’s regional integration within Asia. He is most renowned for addressing such topics as China’s financial risk and financial systems reform, foreign exchange regimes and revaluation, China’s economic reform, and globalisation.

He is widely recognised as the go-to-expert of the Chinese central government, and is often invited to give advice when key ministries of the government consider major policy and reform decisions. He also serves as a Senior Advisor to international organisations such as the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. He has been a Member of International Academic Committee since 1992, a Fellow of the Chinese Economist Society since 1993, and a Fellow and Global Leader for Tomorrow of the World Economic Forum since 1995.

He was ranked 33rd in the ‘World’s 100 Most Admired Intellectuals’  by Foreign Policy and Prospect in both 2005 and 2008, and one of the ‘Top 100 Global Thinkers’ by Foreign Policy in 2010.

Fan is an accomplished author, and has written 8 books on macroeconomics and the economics of transition, more than 80 academic papers,  as well as more than 100 articles for magazines and newspapers.  Currently, he writes a monthly series called “Enter the Dragon” for Project Syndicate, which analyses trends in China’s economy and the impact they have globally.

Jürgen Stark

Jürgen Stark is one of the most successful economists of his generation who has made his mark on German and European economic policy. As a leading German economist, and a former key member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank. Gaining world-wide recognition for his understanding of economics, Stark has worked with the German Federal Government, the ECB and currently occupies a role within the European Union Economic and Financial Committee.

At the ECB he was responsible for economics and monetary analysis, and was often referred to as the bank’s ‘Chief Economist’, although this was not his official title. Jürgen left the ECB in 2011 because of his fundamental disagreement with the bank’s controversial government bond-buying programme.

From 1978-98 he held senior economic policy positions in the German federal government, and from 1998-2006 he served two consecutive terms as Vice President of Germany’s Bundesbank, acting as President of the Bank in 2004.

Jürgen draws on his extensive experience in the German Ministries of Finance and Economics and at the ECB to speak on the future of the euro, European finance and economics, financial stability and the global economy.

Jürgen Stark’s in depth knowledge and understanding of the economic landscape provides an eye opening insight into the financial situation in Europe. For economists and those interested in the diverse affairs of European geopolitics and economics Stark’s opinion is one of high value.

Umair Haque

Umair Haque is one of the world's leading management thinkers. He is the youngest member of the Thinkers50, the world's authoritative ranking of the globe's fifty most widely recognized management experts. He has written hundreds of articles at his widely read blog at Harvard Business Review, published two books about the economy and business through Harvard Business Publishing. He has held senior positions in finance and strategy, and holds degrees from McGill University and London Business School.

He is director of "The Havas Media Lab" which is a platform for a new kind of strategic advisor that helps investors and entrepreneurs experiment with radical management business models and strategic innovation.

His book "Betterness" Economics for Humans, is a powerful call to arms for a post-capitalist economy. Umair Haque argues that just as positive psychology revolutionized our understanding of mental health by recasting the field as more than just treating mental illness, we need to rethink our economic paradigm. Why? Because business as we know it has reached a state of diminishing returns—though we work harder and harder, we never seem to get anywhere. This has led to a diminishing of the common wealth: wage stagnation, widening economic inequality, the depletion of the natural world, and more. To get out of this trap, we need to rethink the future of human exchange. In short, we need to get out of business and into betterness.

His previous book, "The New Capitalist Manifesto:" Building a Disruptively Better Business published in 2011, contends that companies must orient their business models around: “Renewal in order to maximize efficiency; equity in order to maximize productivity; meaning in order to maximize effectiveness; democracy in order to maximize agility; and peace in order to maximize evolvability.”

In 2006 he founded Bubblegeneration, an agenda-setting advisory boutique that shaped strategies across media and consumer industries. He has been ranked the 5th most influential business user of Twitter in the UK by the Independent, his various media appearances and citations include the FT, the New York Times, Wired, Forbes, the Guardian, MSNBC, and CNN.

Umair studied neuroscience at McGill, did his MBA and research with Gary Hamel at London Business School, and more postgraduate work in economics, strategy, and innovation at Oxford.

James Kynge

James is a recipient of several journalism awards, was the China Bureau Chief for the Financial Times for seven years. He has written a book called China Shakes The World: A Titan’s Rise and Troubled Future - and the Challenge for America, in which he describes the development of China as a world power. In October 2006 James Kynge won the Financial Times & Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award for this book.

James Kynge spent over two decades as a journalist in Asia, initially for Reuters and then as China Bureau Chief for the Financial Times between 1998 and 2005. He covered many of the events during this time - including the Japanese deflation, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the rise to nationhood of the five former Soviet central Asian republics in the early 1990s, the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and China’s emergence as a great economic power since 1998.

Kynge speaks fluent Mandarin and is a regular commentator on Chinese and Asian issues for media outlets including NPR, CNN and the BBC. He lives in Beijing. He is a recipient of several journalism awards.

Kynge speaks fluent Mandarin, and is a regular commentator on Chinese and Asian issues for media outlets including NPR, CNN and the BBC.