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Reza Moghadam

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British-Iranian economist

Reza Moghadam is a British-Iranian economist who has been Vice-Chairman for Global Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley since October 2014. Until July 2014, he was the International Monetary Fund’s front man for dealing with European policy makers and institutions during the eurozone crisis. During his twenty-year career at the IMF he dealt first-hand with many crises—in emerging markets, in the advanced countries of the Eurozone and with the Fund’s own restructuring.

Personal life and education

The eldest of three children, Reza Moghadam was born in Borojerd in Western Iran on 4 May 1962 and raised in Tehran. His family moved to London when the Islamic revolution broke out in 1979. In 1982 he was admitted to Oxford University where he studied mathematics at Magdalen College. While there, he was elected president of the student union (Junior Common Room) and created and ran the first Magdalen College Arts Festival. Following a master's degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he went on to the University of Warwick for his PhD in Economics; his doctoral thesis was on wage determination. He is a passionate cyclist and a supporter of the Chelsea Football Club.

Early career

While studying for his PhD, Moghadam taught economics at the Universities of Warwick as well as in London and Bristol. During this time he worked with Colin Carter on the renovation of the LSE’s Phillips Machine, a 60-year-old hydraulic model of the British economy used to demonstrate visually the workings of open economy macroeconomic theory. The machine is now on permanent display at the London Science Museum. From 1990 to 1992, he worked as an Economist for Coopers and Lybrand, focusing on labor market, regulatory and privatization issues.

International Monetary Fund career

Moghadam joined the IMF in 1992 in its elite Economist Program. Moghadam started in the European Department, where he got to deal with the fall-out from the collapse of the communist states, German reunification, and the implosion of the exchange-rate mechanism. He then transferred to the Asia and Pacific Department in 1997 just as Thailand devalued its currency, the first domino of the Asian Crisis. As the IMF resident representative in Bangkok, he was the IMF’s man on the ground helping ensure the flow of international assistance to Thailand and advising the government. Returning to IMF headquarters in Washington in 2000, Moghadam headed the missions to Thailand and Indonesia before turning to new crises in Argentina, Brazil and Turkey – in his capacity as adviser to Anne Krueger, then the IMF’s First Deputy Managing Director. In 2003, Moghadam became Turkey mission chief at a time when its program was off track, inflation out of control and a newly- elected government was trying to find its feet in the build-up to war in Iraq. Moghadam’s re-making of the programme laid the foundation for the country’s subsequent economic success. Recalling those years, Kemal Dervis, the then finance minister of Turkey, recently referred to Reza Moghadam as "one of the top economists in the world" and a "sometimes tough negotiator".

In 2005, Moghadam was picked by Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato as chief of staff. When de Rato quit in 2007, incoming boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn, asked Moghadam to stay on. In September 2008, just as the Lehman crisis was gathering steam, Moghadam was appointed head of the pivotal Policy Development and Review Department (PDR), which was turned by Strauss Kahn into the Strategy, Policy and Review (SPR) department tasked with spearheading the modernization of the institution. "Dominique Strauss-Kahn is publicly portrayed as the man who transformed the Fund. But inside the Fund they say that it was Reza Moghadam, who experienced the street rioting during the Asian crisis, who truly transformed the organization." "Moghadam's job is to make sure that everything remains structured and yet constantly in flux to suit the crisis of the day. Moghadam is a sort of secretary general for the Fund. He introduces internal and external reforms and proposes new groups and strategies."

In November 2011, with the euro-area crisis deepening, Christine Lagarde who had taken over the helm of the IMF in July, asked Moghadam to become the Director of the European Department. The change garnered praise from many analysts who saw it as a move to heighten the IMF’s profile in dealing with the worsening crisis in Europe. "He is seen as a very credible and powerful insider," Eswar Prasad, a former IMF official and a senior fellow at Brookings Institution in Washington, told the Reuters news agency. "It shows that the IMF intends to be much more assertive in playing a prominent role in Europe and Reza Moghadam is somebody who is seen as being able to move the Fund to that more aggressive position." From then on, he was the key architect of the Fund’s strategy in dealing with crises in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus and later Ukraine; he was also at the forefront of the policy dialogue with Italy and the Euro-area. Commenting on his tenure, Benoit Coeuré, the European Central Bank executive board member responsible for Brussels policy said "He did not tell us Europeans what we wanted to hear but what we needed to hear, which is exactly fund’s role.""Reza’s departure is indeed a pity, as he always steered a totally straight course. And he does not blink," added Thomas Wieser, the head of the EU’s powerful euro working group, who occasionally tangled with Moghadam.

Communication and engagement

Videos

Selected blogs

Other blogs are available here http://blog-imfdirect.imf.org/bloggers/reza-moghadam/

Speeches and articles

Academic work

References

  1. IMF press release No 14/732 30 July 2014 IMF European Department Director Reza Moghadam To Leave Fund
  2. Peter Spiegel, Brussels Blog, Financial Times, 30 July 2014 Another Crisis Figure Moves On: IMF's Moghadam
  3. "Reza Moghadam Joins Morgan Stanley as Vice Chairman in Global Capital Markets (press release)". Morgan Stanley. 30 July 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  4. ^ Jones, Tim (10 September 2013). "Reza Moghadam – The third man's man". European Voice. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  5. of the Restored Phillips Machine, 29 June 1989| url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/lselibrary/3983651036
  6. Corkhill, Anna (June 2012). "A Superb Explanatory Device" (PDF). University of Melbourne.
  7. Moghadam, Reza; Carter, Colin (October 1989). "The Restoration of the Philips machine: Pumping Up the Economy". Economic Affairs. 10 (1): 21–27. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0270.1989.tb00703.x.
  8. Moghadam, Reza (April 1991). "The Cure for Skills Shortages". Economic Affairs. 11 (3): 16–18. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0270.1991.tb00781.x.
  9. "IMF Recruitment -- Economist Program (EP)". www.imf.org. IMF. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  10. Tearing Down Walls. The International Monetary Fund 1990-1999, by James M. Boughton, 2012, Chapter 1, page 513
  11. "Thailand Economic Reforms Progress Exemplary Says IMF, Chris Johnson". The Indian Express. 15 September 1998.
  12. "IMF Mission Head Recalls Tough Choices, Good Cooperation", The Nation (Bangkok), 10 July 2007.
  13. and FT.com, Beyondbrics, 2 August 2004, Istanbul Lifted by IMF Approval
  14. "The European Elections and the Future of Europe, 3 June". Brookings Institutions. 30 November 2001. and http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/events/2014/06/03%20europe%20elections/20140603_european_elections_transcript.pdf
  15. "IMF Press Release No 08/122 IMF Managing Director Announces Department Director Appointments". 27 May 2008.
  16. "The Managing Director's Statement to the Executive Board" (PDF). imf.org. 18 June 2008. para. 10
  17. ^ Brinkbäumer, Klaus; Fichtner, Ullrich (4 October 2010). "Money Is Power: Instant Flows of Cash". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  18. "IMF Press Release No 11/417, IMF Managing Director Announces Intention to Appoint Reza Moghadam to Head European Department". Imf.org. and "MF Strategy Chief To Head European Unit, Sandrine Rastello, Bloomberg". Bloomberg News. 17 November 2011.
  19. "IMF Sends Anglo iranian to Try to Fix Europe". iran-times.com, International Iran Times.
  20. Rochan, M. (12 April 2014). "Greece may Need Further Bailout Says IMF's Reza Moghadam". International Business Times.
  21. "IMF wanted senior bondholder 'bail-in' for Ireland". The Irish Times. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  22. "Cyprus Finmin Meets with US Treasury Secretary". Famagusta Gazette.
  23. "IMF Press Release No 14/87 Statement by European Department Director Reza Moghadam on his Visit to Ukraine". IMF. 7 March 2014.
  24. MacKensie, James (16 May 2012). "IMF Says Italy on the Right Track". Reuters.
  25. Spiegel, Peter (30 July 2014). "Brussels Blog: Another Crisis Figure Moves On". Financial Times.
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