Name Thorsteinn Thorgeirsson | ||
Thorsteinn Thorgeirsson (born September 17, 1955 in Reykjavík, Iceland) is an Icelandic economist who has primarily worked in government and international organisations.
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Career
Formerly Director-General in the Finance Ministry of Iceland, Thorgeirsson is a presently a Senior Advisor in the Central Bank of Iceland.
Prior to that, Thorgeirsson was Chief economist for the Federation of Icelandic Industries in Reykjavík from 2001 to 2004. He was an Economist in the Economics Department of the OECD in Paris, France from 1995 to 2000. Before that, he was an economist in the Economics Department of the EFTA in Geneva, Switzerland (1993–1995), and the Economic Department of the Central Bank of Iceland (1991–1993).
Education
Thorgeirsson studied Economics from the New School for Social Research in New York, NY, receiving the M.Phil. degree in 2005. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Economics from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the American University in Washington DC.
Public debate
As an economist at the OECD, Thorgeirsson was the co-author of several Economic Surveys for Finland and Norway, respectively, wherein he developed fiscal and monetary policy advice for these countries. In his capacity as chief economist for the Federation of Icelandic Industries in 2001–2004, Thorgeirsson was a participant in the debate in Iceland concerning membership in the European Union. During this time Thorgeirsson emphasised the advantages of the euro while warning about potential problems with the króna especially if monetary policy became restrictive. He advised the examination of other ways to adopt the euro if EU membership was a sticking point. He said the challenge for economic policy with a single European currency was overstated due to normal adjustment in a market economy. He warned against calls for a multi-currency system and advised of the benefits of the euro for financial stability. He presented an estimate of the potential benefit of EU membership for Iceland and suggested that small states benefited more from EU membership. In 2003, while calling for restraint in fiscal policy, bank lending and private sector decisions, Thorgeirsson warned of an exchange rate rise and subsequent collapse of the króna following the expected high interest rate policy path of the Central Bank during a FDI-led boom. At the same time, he suggested a moderate monetary policy path be considered (where domestic interest rates do not devitate too much from international rates). In May 2004, the central bank began to raise its policy interest rates from 5.3%, and by December 2007 it stood at 13.75%. Over this period, significant inflows of foreign capital took place, the exchange rate appreciated, bank lending surged and debt levels rose. The Icelandic króna and the oversized banking system collapsed in the Autumn of 2008 when global financial markets seized up. While serving as Director-General in the Ministry of Finance, Thorgeirsson suggested that the efficacy of fiscal policy was underrated in the upswing while that of monetary policy was overrated. More recently, while at the Central Bank,he has written about institutional reform in financial surveillance, with a focus on macroprudential policy. He has also performed research into the policy responses to the Icelandic banking collapse, finding that the government selected the optimal path to emerge from the crisis.