Experts

José Antonio Ocampo (Chair)

Colombia

José Antonio Ocampo is Professor of Professional Practice in International and Public Affairs at Columbia University (School of International and Public Affairs) and Co-Director of the Economic and Political Development Concentration. He has served as United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, and twice as Colombia’s Minister of Finance and Public Credit. He has held prominent roles at the UN, including Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Ocampo has published extensively on macroeconomics, international finance, and development.

José Antonio Alonso

Spain

José Antonio Alonso is a Professor of Applied Economics at the Complutense University of Madrid. He is an expert member of the Spanish Council for Development Cooperation and served on the UN Committee for Development Policy from 2007 to 2018. Alonso has also been part of the European Advisory Group of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and was a member of the High-Level Group of Wise Persons on the European Financial Architecture for Development. His research focuses on development economics, institutional economics and development cooperation policy. He has extensively published on development and international economics in books and academic journals. Among his last books are Trapped in the middle?: Developmental challenges for Middle-Income Countries (edited with J.A. Ocampo), Oxford University Press, and El futuro que habita entre nosotros. Pobreza infantil y Desarrollo, Editorial Gutenberg (in Spanish).

Barry Julian Eichengreen

United States

Barry Julian Eichengreen is the George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a leading authority on economic history and international finance. Eichengreen is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research. His work on financial crises, the international monetary system, and economic history has made significant contributions to these fields.

Stephany Griffith-Jones

United Kingdom-Chile

Stephany Griffith-Jones is Vice-Governor of the Central Bank of Chile and Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. An economist specializing in international finance and development, she has advised institutions like the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations. Griffith-Jones has published widely on financial stability, capital markets, and economic development, contributing to major policy discussions on global finance.

Jayati Ghosh

India

Jayati Ghosh is a Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Previously a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, her research focuses on international economics, globalization, employment patterns in developing countries, and gender and development. Ghosh has served as a consultant for several international organizations, including the UN and the ILO, and has published extensively on issues related to poverty, inequality, and economic policy in developing countries.

Daniela Gabor

Romania

Daniela Gabor is a Professor of Economics and Macro-Finance at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Her research spans central banking, global finance, and the governance of international financial institutions. Gabor holds a PhD in Banking and Finance from the University of Stirling and has published extensively on topics such as shadow banking, critical macrofinance, and global financial governance.

Ishac Diwan

Lebanon

Ishac Diwan is a professor of economics at the American University of Beirut, and the Research Director of the Finance for Development Lab at the Paris School of Economics. Diwan has served as the World Bank’s Country Director for several African nations and has taught at Harvard, Columbia, and NYU. His work focuses on political economy, economic development, and the economies of the Middle East and Africa.

Fiona Tregenna

South Africa

Professor Fiona Tregenna holds the South African Research Chair in Industrial Development, and is a Professor of Economics at the University of Johannesburg. She has published widely, edited several books, received awards and grants for her research, led large research projects, and serves on the editorial boards of various journals and book series. Her research focuses on issues of structural change, industrialisation and deindustrialisation, and innovation and technological upgrading. Fiona has served on many panels, boards and councils, such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Advisory Council; South Africa’s Presidential Economic Advisory Council; Competition Commission; and the Board of UNU-WIDER. She is also affiliated with SOAS University of London, as a Professorial Research Associate and a Fellow of the Development Leadership Dialogue. Fiona has advised international organisations such as UNIDO, UNCTAD, the United Nations University and the ILO, and has contributed to a number of flagship United Nations reports. She has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Cambridge.

Leonce Ndikumana

Burundi

Leonce Ndikumana is a Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and has served as a member of the United Nations Development Policy Committee. His research focuses on capital flight, macroeconomic stability, and African economic development. Ndikumana has held prominent roles at the African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), contributing significantly to policy discussions on African development.

Annalisa Prizzon

Italy

Annalisa Prizzon is a Principal Research Fellow at the global affairs think tank ODI, based in London. She is a member of the UN Committee for Development Policy and has previously worked with the OECD Development Centre and the World Bank. Prizzon’s research focuses on development finance, the reform of multilateral development banks, public debt, and international economic policy, making her a key figure in global discussions on development and finance.

Dzodzi Tsikata

Ghana

Dzodzi Tsikata is a Distinguished Professor of Development Studies at SOAS, University of London, and was previously Director of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana. She has a distinguished career in research focusing on gender, agrarian change, and social policy in Africa. Tsikata has held leadership roles in the African social sciences research community, including President of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) between 2015 and 2018. She was a member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (2013-2018) and currently serves on the Boards of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), the Development Network DAWN and the Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja.

Jiajun Xu

China

Jiajun Xu is an Associate Professor and Principal Investigator of the Public Development Finance Research Program at Peking University and the Young Affiliate at the World Academy of Sciences for the Advancement of Science in Developing Countries (TWAS). Her research focuses on public development finance, international development, and global governance. She has initiated to build the first global database on public development financial institutions worldwide. She is the initiator and co-coordinator of the Global Research Network on Public Development Banks (formerly known as the International Research Initiative on Development Financing Institutions Working Groups) under the umbrella of Finance in Common Summit. She serves as the Associate Editor of World Development and Oxford Open Economics. Xu holds a DPhil (PhD) from the University of Oxford.

Carlos Lopes

Guinea-Bissau

Carlos Lopes is an Honorary Professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town. A distinguished economist and development expert, Lopes served as the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and has held senior UN positions, including in Zimbabwe and Brazil. His work on African development, governance, and economic transformation has significantly shaped policies across the continent.

Joseph Stiglitz

United States

Joseph Stiglitz is a Nobel Laureate and Professor at Columbia University. He is a former Chief Economist of the World Bank and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001. Stiglitz’s pioneering work on asymmetric information and his critique of globalization have made him one of the most influential economists of our time. He continues to contribute to global economic policy discussions, particularly in the areas of income distribution, climate change, and public policy.