Jan Švejnar wins 2015 IZA Prize in Labor Economics ****************************************************************************************** * Jan Švejnar wins 2015 IZA Prize in Labor Economics ****************************************************************************************** The 2015 IZA Prize in Labor Economics goes to Jan Švejnar, the James T. Shotwell Professor Political Economy and Director of the Center on Global Economic Governance at Columbia Uni of International and Public Affairs, New York and a chairman of the Executive and Supervis CERGE-EI in Prague. Czech economist was recognized for his work on economic issues in labo and the transition from socialist to market economies. Professor Švejnar will receive the prize, awarded by the Bonn-based Institute for the Stud and widely regarded as the most prestigious science award in the world in the field of lab for his major contributions to labor, development and comparative economics in general and transition from centrally planned to market economies in particular.  According to the IZA Prize Committee, Professor Švejnar’s research on the transition from market economies “has broadened our understanding of this process in a fundamental way.” S fall of the Iron Curtain, Švejnar provided an elaborated policy agenda for a successful tr socialist to market economies. In articles published in the PlanEcon Report (1989) and Jou Perspectives (1991), he emphasized the need for micro adjustments to achieve macro stabili transforming socialist economies. Švejnar’s policy proposal emphasized the importance of a functioning legal framework to gu activity, the need for firms to become more efficient through strong incentives for manage of state enterprises, as well as specific social and labor market reforms to enhance labor His reform proposals, particularly concerning the legal framework and corporate governance substantially to the understanding and performance of the transition economies. In his most recent work dealing with the effects of wealth distribution on economic perfor Švejnar and Sutirtha Bagchi show that a greater concentration of wealth in the hands of bi associated with slower economic growth and that this negative effect is driven by billiona with politics. “Jan Švejnar is among those top economists who always have a policy perspective in mind. H have provided policymakers with the tools to master Europe’s greatest post-war challenge – transition of the formerly socialist economies,” said IZA Director Klaus F. Zimmermann. “Jan Švejnar is a wonderful choice for the 2015 IZA Prize. From his research on worker par firm management to the economics of transitioning communist countries, Jan Švejnar has had influence on economics. Indeed, Švejnar helped to establish the entire field of transition addition to his significant academic contributions. Professor Švejnar has also helped to f CERGE-EI to become an outstanding graduate education and research center, advised the Czec on economic policy and privatization procedures, and nearly became President of the Czech Alan Krueger, former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers of president Barack Obama a Executive and Supervisory Committee of CERGE-EI.  “Jan Švejnar’s work has deepened our understanding of the pitfalls and opportunities facin market economies. His analysis has contributed to economists’ theory and knowledge, but al direct effects on the policy choices made in various countries. The IZA Prize is a well-ea said Rebecca Blank, Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and former US Depu Commerce and later Acting Secretary of Commerce. The award ceremony will be held during the annual IZA/World Bank Conference on Employment in Bonn, Germany, June 4-6, 2015. Previous recipients of the Prize have included Professors Orley Ashenfelter, David Card, A Mortensen, Christopher Pissarides (the last two are also laureates of Nobel prize for Econ and Columbia University’s Jacob Mincer, the first Prize recipient and considered by many t of modern labor economics. The IZA Prize Committee has included, among others, Nobel laureates George Akerlof, Gary B Heckman, and Joseph Stiglitz. Jan Švejnar Jan Švejnar is the James T. Shotwell Professor of Global Political Economy and Director of of CERGE-EI, a Prague-based American-style PhD and research program dedicated to the educa of CERGE-EI. Several years ago, within the CERGE-EI he established Institute for Democracy Professor Švejnar is also a Fellow of the European Economic Association and Research Fello served as the Founding Director of the Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of t President of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies, Associate Editor of the Jou Havel of the Czech Republic. Prior to joining the faculty of Columbia University, Jan Švejnar was the Everett E. Berg P and Director of the International Policy Center at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Pol IZA [ URL "http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/index_html"] Established 1998 in Bonn, Germany, the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) is a private research institute focused on the analysis of global labor markets. IZA is a non-profit or supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation. It operates a global research network of 1,300 more than 45 countries. Based on academic excellence and an extensive publication strategy place of communication between academic science and political practice. According to the R economic research, IZA ranks first among all economics institutions in Germany and second field of labor economics. Further information Mark Fallak IZA e-mail Fallak(zavinac)iza.org [ MAIL "Fallak(zavinac)iza.org"] tel. +49 228 38 94 223 www.iza.org [ URL "http://www.iza.org "] Vít Kurfürst Czech P.R. e-mail kurfurst(zavinac)czechpr.cz [ MAIL "kurfurst(zavinac)czechpr.cz"] tel. +420-224 210 206; +420-602 321 333 Daniel Münich IDEA při CERGE-EI e-mail Daniel.Munich(zavinac)cerge-ei.cz [ MAIL "Daniel.Munich(zavinac)cerge-ei.cz"] tel. +420-224 005 175; +420-736 607 705