Experience

• 

  C.D. Howe Institute

  • Toronto, Canada

  • Senior Fellow

    • Jun 2018 - Present
    • Toronto, Canada

• 

  OECD

  • Previous Chair of the EDRC

    • Jan 2009 - Mar 2018

    The Economic and Development Review Committee of the OECD is made up of representatives of member countries and aspiring members. It conducts one day meetings (around 25 times a year) to evaluate the policies, both macroeconomic and structural,of the countries attending the meetings. Senior representatives of the country being examined are always in attendance. As background, the staff of the OECD prepare a document which, not only gives accolades (where due), but also specific recommendations for policy changes that would seem required to improve the well being of the citizens in the country in question. My job is to chair the meeting and to evaluate the arguments made by the participants concerning the policy recommendations made for the country being examained. When the day's discussion is finished, I summarize whether the participants have supported the position of the OECD Secretariat, or rather possible alternative positions taken by the country being examined. My summary constitutes the guide for the redrafting of the OECD document which takes place the next day. The objective is to have a document that the OECD can support, but also a document of which the country being examined can take "ownership". This OECD meeting is, therefore, perhaps a unique form of "peer review".

• 

  Issing Committee

  • Berlin

  • Member

    • Jan 2009 - Mar 2012
    • Berlin

    Providing advice to the German Chancellor on G20 issues

• 

  Bank for international Settlements

  • Basel Area, Switzerland

  • Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economics Department

    • Jun 1994 - Jun 2008
    • Basel Area, Switzerland

    Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department, May 1995 to June 2008The MED has an international staff of over 100 people (from almost 30 countries) of whom one-third are economists, one-third statisticians and research assistants and the rest support staff. The Department is responsible for providing secretariat support for the many committees of national experts which meet in Basel (various groups of Governors, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the Committee on the Global Financial System (formerly the Euro-currency Standing Committee), the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems, the Markets Committee, etc.). The MED is also responsible for the collection and analysis of a broad range of statistics having to do chiefly with international financial markets, and it administers a large macroeconomic data bank for the use of its clients. To support this work, a research group prepares papers and publications of various sorts.As Head of the MED, I ensured this work was carried out to the satisfaction of our clients and provided guidance as to topics of potential interest for committee work, research and BIS publications. I also sat on the various internal committees set up to manage the BIS: the Executive Committee, the Information Technology Strategy Committee, and the Finance Committee which oversees the activities of the Banking Department and Risk Control.As the Economic Adviser, I provided support for the General Manager of the BIS, acted as chairman for many of the meetings organised by the BIS, and led task forces of various sorts. The BIS Annual Report, for which I wrote the Introduction and Conclusion, was produced under my direction. I represented the BIS at international meetings organised by the OECD (WP3), the IMF and the Financial Stability Forum. I also carried out research and published academic articles and working papers on topics of interest to the BIS and its clients.

• 

  Bank of Canada

  • Deputy Governor

    • 1988 - 1994