Simeon Djankov
Encyclopedia
Simeon Djankov is a Bulgaria
n economist
and Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of Finance of Bulgaria in the government of Boyko Borisov
. Prior to his cabinet appointment, Simeon Djankov was a Chief economist of the finance and private sector vice-presidency of the World Bank
. In his fourteen years at the World Bank, he worked on regional trade agreements in North Africa
, enterprise restructuring and privatization
in transition economies, corporate governance
in East Asia
, and regulatory reforms around the world. Simeon Djankov was a principal author of the World Development Report
2002. He was an associate editor of the Journal of Comparative Economics from 2004 to 2009.
. During the April Uprising
in 1876 he was imprisoned together with Zahari Stoyanov
, and later hanged. Radi Popmihov's time in prison is described in one of the significant historical books of Stoyanov - Memoirs of the Bulgarian Uprisings, in the chapter on Turnovo. Simeon Djankov's great-great-grandfather Miho Minkov was representative in the First Grand National Assembly after the Liberation, which appointed Bulgarian knjaz - Alexander of Battenberg. He was elected to represent the Sevlievo
region and played important role in forming of then Bulgarian constitutional monarchist rule (Bulgaira is now republic).
, Bulgaria on 13 July 1970, Djankov attended high school "Ekzarh Yosif I" in Lovech
(1984–89). In 1989, he passed the entrance exam to the formerly named "Karl Marx Institute of Economics" (today University of National and World Economy
) with the highest scores nationally. Simeon Djankov also holds doctorates from University of Pittsburgh
and University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
. For the next year, the project surveyed most of the manufacturing enterprises in Georgia, identifying those with good export opportunities.
Since 2004, after the Rose Revolution
, Simeon Djankov has visited Georgia frequently and worked with the government on reforming the business environment. Zurab Nogaideli
, prime minister between 2005 and 2007, won a Reformer of the Year award in 2007. Djankov has worked closely with Kakha Bendukidze
, the main architect of Georgia's economic reforms.
Simeon Djankov is the creator of the annual Doing Business report
, the top-selling publication of the World Bank Group. The report came out of joint research work with Professor Andrei Shleifer
at Harvard University
, and was inspired by Djankov's experience in overly-regulated socialist economies. Since its initial publication in November 2003, Doing Business has generated 19,000 media citations, and over 150,000 copies sold.
. Several projects are co-sponsored with the Gates Foundation and the Institute for Financial Management and Research in India.
to receive an upgrade that year. In January 2010 Moody's followed with an upgrade of its rating perspective from "stable" to "positive."
At the second GERB party congress Djankov urged delegates to lead such policies that the party wins a second term with full majority in parliament. This is needed, he said, to complete the reforms that would lead Bulgaria from poorest to middle-income country by Central European standards. Djankov believes in his role as an expert rather than a politician and even he is member of GERB cabinet he is not member of GERB party.
Dr Djankov is the second-youngest finance minister in the European Union, after the UK's George Osborne
. He champions low taxes as a way to come out of the global economic crisis.
In 2010, Simeon Djankov inaugurated the Burov Hall at the Ministry of Finance, in honor of Atanas Burov
. The hall contains the original desk and bookcase of Burov, as well as the original national budgets from 1880 onward. The only surviving oilpaint portrait of Atanas Burov is also as the hall, on loan from the Bulgarian Development Bank. The Ministry of Finance has initiated a program to collect the Burov manuscripts.
In July 2010, the results of the first year of administrative reform were reported. The number of public officials was reduced by 11%, and the number of government institutions by 8%. This is the first time since the fall of socialism that administrative reform has resulted in an actual optimization in government.
Caroline Freund, and has two children.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
and Deputy Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some counties, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, but is significantly different, though both...
and Minister of Finance of Bulgaria in the government of Boyko Borisov
Boyko Borisov
Boyko Metodiev Borisov is a Bulgarian politician who has been Prime Minister of Bulgaria since July 2009. Previously he was Mayor of Sofia from 8 November 2005 until his election as Prime Minister....
. Prior to his cabinet appointment, Simeon Djankov was a Chief economist of the finance and private sector vice-presidency of the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
. In his fourteen years at the World Bank, he worked on regional trade agreements in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, enterprise restructuring and privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
in transition economies, corporate governance
Corporate governance
Corporate governance is a number of processes, customs, policies, laws, and institutions which have impact on the way a company is controlled...
in East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
, and regulatory reforms around the world. Simeon Djankov was a principal author of the World Development Report
World Development Report
The World Development Report is an annual report published since 1978 by the World Bank. Each WDR provides in-depth analysis of a specific aspect of economic development. Past reports have considered such topics as agriculture, youth, equity, public services delivery, the role of the state,...
2002. He was an associate editor of the Journal of Comparative Economics from 2004 to 2009.
Genealogy
Simeon Djankov comes from an old line of political leaders. Among his predecessors was Radi Popmihov, revolutionary for Bulgarian freedom from Ottoman rule who established revolutionary committee in Novo Selo in 1872, alongside Vasil LevskiVasil Levski
Vasil Levski, born Vasil Ivanov Kunchev, , is a Bulgarian revolutionary and a national hero of Bulgaria. Dubbed the Apostle of Freedom, Levski ideologised and strategised a revolutionary movement to liberate Bulgaria from Ottoman rule...
. During the April Uprising
April Uprising
The April Uprising was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876, which indirectly resulted in the re-establishment of Bulgaria as an autonomous nation in 1878...
in 1876 he was imprisoned together with Zahari Stoyanov
Zahari Stoyanov
Zahari Stoyanov , born Dzhendo Stoyanov Dzhedev , was a Bulgarian revolutionary, writer, and historian. A participant in the April Uprising of 1876, he became its first historiographer with his book Memoirs of the Bulgarian Uprisings...
, and later hanged. Radi Popmihov's time in prison is described in one of the significant historical books of Stoyanov - Memoirs of the Bulgarian Uprisings, in the chapter on Turnovo. Simeon Djankov's great-great-grandfather Miho Minkov was representative in the First Grand National Assembly after the Liberation, which appointed Bulgarian knjaz - Alexander of Battenberg. He was elected to represent the Sevlievo
Sevlievo
Sevlievo is a town in north-central Bulgaria, part of Gabrovo Province. Sevlievo is known as one of the wealthiest towns in Bulgaria owing to the well developed local economy, high employment rate and major foreign investments, such as the American Standard Companies factory...
region and played important role in forming of then Bulgarian constitutional monarchist rule (Bulgaira is now republic).
Education
Born in SofiaSofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, Bulgaria on 13 July 1970, Djankov attended high school "Ekzarh Yosif I" in Lovech
Lovech
Lovech is a town in north-central Bulgaria with a population of 36,296 as of February 2011. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The town is located about 150 km northeast from the capital city of Sofia...
(1984–89). In 1989, he passed the entrance exam to the formerly named "Karl Marx Institute of Economics" (today University of National and World Economy
University of National and World Economy
The University of National and World Economy is a university located in Sofia, Bulgaria.- History :University of National and World Economy is one of the biggest and oldest higher educational institutions of economics in the Republic of Bulgaria and South Eastern Europe with a history of almost...
) with the highest scores nationally. Simeon Djankov also holds doctorates from University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
and University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Work in Georgia
In 1997, Simeon Djankov participated in a World Bank enterprise restructuring project in GeorgiaGeorgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
. For the next year, the project surveyed most of the manufacturing enterprises in Georgia, identifying those with good export opportunities.
Since 2004, after the Rose Revolution
Rose Revolution
The "Revolution of Roses" was a change of power in Georgia in November 2003, which took place after having widespread protests over the disputed parliamentary elections...
, Simeon Djankov has visited Georgia frequently and worked with the government on reforming the business environment. Zurab Nogaideli
Zurab Noghaideli
Zurab Noghaideli is a Georgian businessman and a politician who served as the Prime Minister of Georgia from February 2005 until he resigned, citing health problems, on 16 November 2007...
, prime minister between 2005 and 2007, won a Reformer of the Year award in 2007. Djankov has worked closely with Kakha Bendukidze
Kakha Bendukidze
Kakha Bendukidze is a Georgian politician and businessman.After the Rose Revolution, he served as Georgian Minister of Economy , Minister for Reform Coordination and Head of the Chancellery of Government of Georgia .- Studies :Bendukidze graduated from the...
, the main architect of Georgia's economic reforms.
The World Bank's Doing Business project
Simeon Djankov has had a long and distinguished career at the World Bank, starting in 1995. He worked in over 100 countries, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Macedonia, Moldova, Paraguay, Slovakia, Slovenia and Yemen.Simeon Djankov is the creator of the annual Doing Business report
Doing Business Report
The Doing Business Report is a study elaborated by the World Bank Group since 2004 every year that is aimed to measure the costs to firms of business regulations in 183 countries in 2010...
, the top-selling publication of the World Bank Group. The report came out of joint research work with Professor Andrei Shleifer
Andrei Shleifer
Andrei Shleifer is a Russian American economist. From its inauguration in 1992 until it was shut down in 1997, Shleifer served as project director of the Harvard Institute for International Developments Russian aid project...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, and was inspired by Djankov's experience in overly-regulated socialist economies. Since its initial publication in November 2003, Doing Business has generated 19,000 media citations, and over 150,000 copies sold.
Ideas 42
In June 2008, Djankov established the think-tank Ideas42, jointly with Antoinette Schoar (MIT Sloan), Eldar Shafir (Princeton) and Sendhil Mullainathan (Harvard), a Harvard University-International Finance Corporation venture. Another Bulgarian-born economist with Ideas42 is Plamen Nikolov (Harvard). The think tank applies the latest analysis to studying the economic lives of the poor, the development of small businesses, and access to financeAccess to finance
Access to finance refers to the possibility that individuals or enterprises can access financial services, including credit, deposit, payment, insurance, and other risk management services...
. Several projects are co-sponsored with the Gates Foundation and the Institute for Financial Management and Research in India.
Minister of Finance of Bulgaria
On 27 July 2009, Simeon Djankov became Minister of Finance of Bulgaria. Minister Djankov reduced budget spending and managed to cut the budget deficit for 2009 to 4.7%. In 2010 it remained above the Maashtricht criteria - 3.2%, falling to 2,5% in 2011. On December 1, 2009, Standard&Poors upgraded Bulgaria's investment outlook from "negative" to "stable," the only country in the European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
to receive an upgrade that year. In January 2010 Moody's followed with an upgrade of its rating perspective from "stable" to "positive."
At the second GERB party congress Djankov urged delegates to lead such policies that the party wins a second term with full majority in parliament. This is needed, he said, to complete the reforms that would lead Bulgaria from poorest to middle-income country by Central European standards. Djankov believes in his role as an expert rather than a politician and even he is member of GERB cabinet he is not member of GERB party.
Dr Djankov is the second-youngest finance minister in the European Union, after the UK's George Osborne
George Osborne
George Gideon Oliver Osborne, MP is a British Conservative politician. He is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, a role to which he was appointed in May 2010, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001.Osborne is part of the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, known in...
. He champions low taxes as a way to come out of the global economic crisis.
In 2010, Simeon Djankov inaugurated the Burov Hall at the Ministry of Finance, in honor of Atanas Burov
Atanas Burov
Atanas Dimitrov Burov was a Bulgarian banker and politician.- Family background :Burov was born in Gorna Oryahovitsa. Members of his family played an active role in the national liberation movement, the educational and cultural reforms, the setting up of the national financial system and industry...
. The hall contains the original desk and bookcase of Burov, as well as the original national budgets from 1880 onward. The only surviving oilpaint portrait of Atanas Burov is also as the hall, on loan from the Bulgarian Development Bank. The Ministry of Finance has initiated a program to collect the Burov manuscripts.
Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria
As Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Djankov is responsible for the reforms in the public administration, healthcare, higher education, and pensions.In July 2010, the results of the first year of administrative reform were reported. The number of public officials was reduced by 11%, and the number of government institutions by 8%. This is the first time since the fall of socialism that administrative reform has resulted in an actual optimization in government.
Family
Djankov is married to the American World Bank economistEconomist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
Caroline Freund, and has two children.
External links
- Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria
- Ministry of Finance, Bulgaria
- Doing Business report @ World Bank
- Simeon Djankov @ World Bank
- IDEAS/RePEc
- Google Scholar
- Editorial Board Journal of Comparative Economics
- How Nations Prosper: Economic Freedom and Doing Business around the World (Cato Institute Event)
- Ideas42
- New Finance Minister Wins Austerity Praise
- Bulgaria Seeks to Adopt the Euro in 2013
- Bulgaria's Finance Minister Bullish Over Economy