Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel

Professor of Economics at Universidad del Desarrollo

Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel is an international consultant, advisor, and public speaker. He is Professor of Economics at Universidad del Desarrollo. Dr. Schmidt-Hebbel is a board member of Banco BCI. He is a board member of Reforestemos Foundation and a member of the Council for the Development of National Manufacturing. He is a member of the advisory boards of the Chilean Chapter of Transparency International, the Chilean Foundation for the Pacific, and Fiscalía Privada. Dr. Schmidt-Hebbel held the position of Chief Economist of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Director of the OECD Economics Department in Paris in 2008-2009. He was Chief of Economic Research at the Central Bank of Chile during the previous 12 years. Before that he was Principal Economist in the Research Department of the World Bank in Washington. Dr. Schmidt-Hebbel has been Chairman of Chile’s Advisory Fiscal Council, Chairman of the Financial Advisory Board of Chile’s Sovereign Wealth Funds, General Director of Grupo Res Publica Chile, President of the Chilean Economic Association, and President of the Monetary Club. He has worked as advisor and consultant with more than 85 international organizations, global and national corporations, 40 governments, 30 central banks, and many universities, conducting research and providing key financial and policy advice on a wide array of topics, ranging from financial markets, macroeconomics and growth policies, to pension systems and capital market reform, institutional organization and policy design. He has been invited as keynote speaker on financial, macroeconomic, and development issues to many corporate, official, and academic meetings and international conferences. Dr. Schmidt-Hebbel is Full Professor of Economics at Universidad del Desarrollo and Catholic University of Chile, and Associate Professor of Economics at University of Chile. He was elected “2008 Economist of the Year” by his peers in Chile. He has been widely published in the fields of international finance, macroeconomics, monetary policy, economic growth, and development.  He speaks fluent Spanish, English, German, and Portuguese, as well as basic French. Mr. Schmidt-Hebbel holds a PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a BA and a MA in Economics from the Catholic University of Chile.