Simeon Djankov

Life

• Born: 1968 in Sofia, Bulgaria
• Education:
• B.A. from the University of National and World Economy, Sofia (1991)
• M.A. from the University of Michigan (1993)
• Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan (1996)
• Career:
• Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Bulgaria (2009-2013)
• Lead economist at the World Bank (1997-2009)
• Co-founder of the World Bank's Doing Business report
• Research Director at the Financial Markets Group, London School of Economics (2015-2021)
• Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (2021-present)

People Who Influenced Their Thought

• Andrei Shleifer: Mentor and frequent collaborator on institutional economics research
• Rafael La Porta: Influenced his work on law and finance
• Robert Vishny: Collaborator on governance research

Main Ideas and Publications

• Institutional Economics: Focus on how regulations and institutions affect economic development
• Doing Business Reports: Created global indicators of business regulations
• The Regulation of Entry (2002): Seminal work on business entry regulations
• Who Owns the Media? (2003): Analysis of media ownership patterns
• Inside the Revolution of Finance (2014): Examination of financial crises

Controversies

• Doing Business Report Controversy: The World Bank discontinued the report in 2021 after data irregularities were found
• Bulgarian Politics: His tenure as Finance Minister faced criticism for austerity measures
• Methodology Debates: Some economists questioned the simplicity of his regulatory indicators

Key People Influenced by Their Thought

• Thorsten Beck: Built on his work in financial regulation
• Caralee McLiesh: Continued work on business regulation metrics
• Leora Klapper: Expanded research on entrepreneurship and finance

Legacy

Simeon Djankov transformed our understanding of how regulations affect economic growth while sparking global debates about measuring business environments.