## The Everywhere Economist by Minouche Shafik

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [The Everywhere Economist by Minouche Shafik](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2023/09/pie-the-everywhere-economist-minouche-shafik)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2023/09/pie-the-everywhere-economist-minouche-shafik/index.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2023/09/pie-the-everywhere-economist-minouche-shafik/index.json)
- [Bundle manifest](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2023/09/pie-the-everywhere-economist-minouche-shafik/bundle-manifest.json)

## Bibliographic details
- Authors: NICHOLAS OWEN
- Published: September 1, 2023

---

### Career overview and roles
- Freshly minted Oxford economics PhD led to work on Eastern Europe at the World Bank after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.
- Led the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID) during the mid-2000s Make Poverty History campaign; became permanent secretary in 2008.
- At the International Monetary Fund during the 2009–10 euro area debt crisis, oversaw Fund work on several countries at the epicenter of the upheaval.
- Ran IMF programs in the Middle East during the Arab Spring pro-democracy protests of the early 2010s as a deputy managing director.
- Deputy governor of the Bank of England during the turmoil of Britain’s Brexit vote, overseeing a $500 billion balance sheet.
- President of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) for six years; first female president of Columbia University at age 60.
- Became the World Bank’s youngest-ever vice president at the age of 36.
- Honors and positions: named a baroness in the House of Lords, named a dame for services to the world economy, and elected a fellow of the British Academy.

### Intellectual contributions and policy proposals
- Author of the 2021 book What We Owe Each Other, calling for a new social contract in response to demographic and technological change.
- Key proposals from the book:
  - Constructing a floor below which income cannot fall combined with incentives to work.
  - Portable pensions linked to life expectancy.
  - Lifelong education and retraining.
  - Intervention in early childhood to equalize opportunity.
  - A stronger “architecture of security and opportunity” by sharing risks and investing in people.
- In response to COVID and later reflections, would add a chapter on the international social contract and how to strengthen it.

### Views on institutions, international cooperation, and the Middle East
- Emphasizes reversal of declining independence in parliaments, courts, central banks, civil society, and a free press as crucial for the Middle East’s long-term prospects.
- Stresses the importance of strong institutions: “The institutions that make sure whatever kind of leadership you have works in the public interest.”
- Sees the laws of economics as applying in the Middle East and North Africa as elsewhere; expresses confidence in the region’s young people, history, and potential.
- Warns that the international system faces acute strains: aid budget cuts, Russia’s war in Ukraine and geopolitical tensions, and rising interest rates pressuring heavily indebted developing economies.
- Asserts that “the external context for international organizations has not been this tough since the Cold War.”
- Argues for carving out space for international cooperation on global public goods like climate, pandemic preparedness, and financial stability, especially when bilateral channels falter.

### DFID, aid, and development finance
- Oversaw legislation that enshrined into law a commitment to spend at least 0.7 percent of gross national income on official development assistance.
- That commitment “worked out to an annual budget of about $20 billion.”
- Views DFID’s clarity of purpose—to reduce world poverty—as a key to its success; regrets its later merger into the Foreign Office and dilution of the aid commitment.

### Leadership style, persuasion, and public engagement
- Described by colleagues as combining “tough-mindedness, high intellect, courage, and an aptitude for swaying policymakers,” with notable empathy and political intelligence.
- Christine Lagarde: attentive and inclusive leadership; supports others, especially women, and “does not suffer fools gladly but will give everyone a chance.”
- Praised for the ability to deliver tough messages in an inoffensive way and to separate message from person.

### Higher education, free speech, and civic discourse
- As a university leader, worries that cancel culture can stifle free-thinking debate; advocates free speech within the law.
- Argues universities must teach people to have difficult conversations to build consensus and move forward as a community.
- Proud that at LSE “no one was barred from speaking because of views that some might consider offensive.”

### Personal background and formative experiences
- Born in Egypt; family fled President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Egypt for the United States in 1966 when she was four years old, settling first in Savannah, Georgia.
- Childhood amid US turmoil—Vietnam War, Civil Rights Movement, Watergate—and frequent school bussing influenced interests in politics, policy, international relations, and fairness.
- Education: undergraduate degree in economics and politics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; master’s in economics from the LSE; doctorate in economics from Oxford.
- Family life: married scientist Raffael Jovine in 2002, had twins, and became stepmother to his three children in the same year.
- Maintains frequent visits to Egypt; frustrated by the region’s underperformance due to bad politics, misguided economic policies, internal conflicts, and outside interventions.

*F&D Magazine — Minouche Shafik: The Everywhere Economist, Nicholas Owen, September 2023*

---

## Content in this bundle

- **People in Economics: The Everywhere Economist**
  - [People in Economics: The Everywhere Economist (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2023/september/pie-minouche-shafik.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"}
  - [People in Economics: The Everywhere Economist (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2023/september/pie-minouche-shafik.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"}

---

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2023/09/pie-the-everywhere-economist-minouche-shafik_