|
Andrei Shleifer is a prominent academic economist. He was born in Russia and emigrated to the USA as a teenager. He then studied economics, obtaining his Ph.D. at MIT. He has held a post in the Department of Economics at Harvard University since 1991 and is currently the Whipple V. N. Jones Professor of Economics.
Work
Andrei Shleifer is among the most highly cited scientists in the fields of Business and Economics, garnering >1000 citations in the period of 1993 to 2003. (Citation rate is one measure of a scientist's impact on thought and practice in a particular field of endeavor.) His work focuses mostly on financial economics, where he has been one of the pioneers of the field of behavioral finance.
In recent years, his research has focused on the Legal Origins Theory (also sometimes known as Law and finance theory), which claims that the legal tradition a country adheres to (such as common law or various types of civil law) is an important determining factor for a country's development, most of all financial development.
Activities in Russia and their fallout
During the early 1990s, Andrei Shleifer was an advisor to Anatoly Chubais, the then vice-premier of Russia, and was one of the engineers of the Russian privatization. During that time, Harvard University was under a contract with the United States Agency for International Development, which paid Harvard and its employees to advise the Russian government. Much later, the US government alleged that Shleifer, his wife, his assistant Jonathan Hay, and Hay's girlfriend, had been buying Russian stocks while they were working on the privatization, which contravened Harvard's contract with the USAID. In June 2004, a federal judge found Harvard, Shleifer and Hay liable for treble damages under the False Claims Act, which could amount to damages of up to $120 million for each of them. Shleifer and Hay were found to have defrauded the US government. It is not known what amount of damages finally had to be paid. So far, there are no indications that Shleifer's tenure might be revoked, since he is one of the stars of the economics department and a close friend of Harvard's president, Lawrence Summers (with whom he has also co-authored some articles).
References
Most-Cited Scientists in Economics & Business (http://www.in-cites.com/nobel/2003-eco-top100.html) in Essential Science Indicators (2003). Thompson-ISI. Retrieved 2005-01-30.
External Links
See Also
|
