Policymakers’ economics backgrounds vary substantially across EU and OECD countries

The appointments of Lucas Papademos in Greece and Mario Monti in Italy in 2011 are examples of leadership changes intended to bring more competent figures into government. But why do governments sometimes appoint economic policymakers with economics training, whilst others do not? Using new research, Mark Hallerberg and Joachim Wehner suggest that levels of economics education among finance ministers are substantially higher in new democracies than in old ones, and that the appointment of an economics PhD as a central bank president is 22 per cent more likely during a banking crisis.