Stephany Griffith-Jones | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1947-06-05)June 5, 1947 (age 78) |
| Spouse | Robert Griffith-Jones |
| Academic background | |
| Education | University of Chile[1] (BA) Cambridge University (PhD) |
| Influences | John Maynard Keynes Hyman Minsky James Tobin Charles P. Kindleberger John Kenneth Galbraith Joseph Stiglitz |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Financial economics Development economics |
| School or tradition | New Keynesian economics |
| Institutions | Initiative for Policy Dialogue Overseas Development Institute |
| Awards | Distinguished Czech Woman of the World Award (2006) ALIDE prize for best essay on Latin America's international finance (1983) |
Stephany Griffith-Jones (bornStepanka Novy Kafka[1] on 5 June 1947) is aneconomist specializing ininternational finance anddevelopment. Her expertise lies in the reform of theinternational financial system, particularly infinancial regulation,global governance, and international capital flows. Currently, she serves as a member of the Governor Board at theCentral Bank of Chile. She has held various positions throughout her career, including financial markets director at theInitiative for Policy Dialogue based atColumbia University,[2] associate fellow at the Overseas Development Institute, and professorial fellow at theInstitute of Development Studies atSussex University.
Griffith-Jones has an extensive background in international organizations, having worked as deputy director of International Finance at theCommonwealth Secretariat, and for theUnited Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and theUnited Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Her career began in 1970 at the Central Bank of Chile, and she also gained experience atBarclays Bank International in theUK before joining the Institute of Development Studies. She has served as a senior consultant to governments inEastern Europe andLatin America, as well as to international agencies such as theWorld Bank, theInter-American Development Bank, theEuropean Commission,UNICEF,UNDP, and theUnited Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Griffith-Jones was a member of the Warwick Commission on international financial reform.[3]
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 bookTime for the Visible Hand: Lessons from the 2008 Crisis, which she co-edited withJosé Antonio Ocampo andJoseph Stiglitz, published in 2010.
Griffith-Jones was born inPrague and moved toChile at the age of one. She received her primary and secondary education in Chile and graduated from theUniversity of Chile. Notably, she is the niece ofFranz Kafka. She adopted her current surname after marrying British mathematician Robert Griffith-Jones. Additionally, she served as an economic advisor to Chilean presidentGabriel Boric during his presidential campaign.[1]
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 thereal economy. One of her first articles,The Growth of Multinational Banking, the Euro-currency market and their effects on developing countries[4] in theJournal of Development Studies, published in 1980, warned of the risk of excessive internationalbank lending todeveloping economies.
Her 1986 book with Osvaldo Sunkel,Debt and Development Crises in Latin America: The End of An Illusion, showed the negative effects of the 1980sLatin American debt crisis on the region's economic development.[5] She was an early advocate ofdebt relief inLatin America andSub-Saharan Africa.
Writing withRicardo Ffrench-Davis in the 1990s she contributed to the debate on howLatin America could curb and manage volatilecapital flows.[6] She again warned of the risks of costlyfinancial crises if sufficient measures such ascapital controls were not implemented.
After several financial crises, mainly indeveloping countries, she started in the mid-1990s to advocate capital flow regulations in capital source countries as a way to curb excessive and volatilecapital flows.[7] She believed this would reduce the risk of major reversals of capital flows and thefinancial crises that result from them. This is further discussed in her 1998 bookGlobal Capital Flows, should they be regulated?[8]
In the discussion on reform of theinternational financial architecture she contributed to the analysis of crisis prevention, especially through financial regulation and more effective financial crisis management. For example, she advocatedspecial drawing rights issues by theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) as a means to provide officialliquidity 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 withJosé Antonio Ocampo since the late 1990s[9] they expanded the concept ofcounter-cyclical reform of theinternational financial system to help stabilise capital flows and domestic private lending. The aim was to avoid frequent costly crises, facilitatemacro-economic 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 ofcompensatory financing at the IMF in the face of external shocks to make it larger, speedier and with lessconditionality. Similarly she was an early supporter of expandingdevelopment banks - nationally, regionally and multilaterally - and their role incounter-cyclical lending. She has also advocated the issue ofGDP-linked bonds as acounter-cyclical mechanism to reduce the risk offinancial crises.[10] She has long supported the idea of counter-cyclical regulation. These and other practical measures are aimed at reforming thefinancial system so that it supports stable inclusive economic growth without costlyfinancial crises.
