Jozef Konings

Jozef (Joep) Konings
Born	(1967-05-24) 24 May 1967 (age 54) Antwerp, Belgium
Nationality	Belgian
Alma mater	University of Antwerp, London School of Economics
Spouse(s)	Hylke Vandenbussche
Children	2
Scientific career
Fields	International macroeconomics, Globalization, Emerging Markets
Institutions	KU Leuven, University of Liverpool, Nazarbayev University
Thesis	Gross job flows and wage determination in the U.K.: Evidence from firm level data (1994)
Influences	Christopher Pissarides
Website	http://www.jozefkonings.com

Jozef (Joep) Konings (Dutch pronunciation: [jɒrzɛf (jup) kɒrnɪŋs]; born 24 May 1967) is a Belgian economist and Professor in Economics at KU Leuven. He is head of the economics group at University of Liverpool Management School,^[1] director of the (VIVES) at KU Leuven and research fellow of the Center for Economic Policy Research^[2] (CEPR) in London. He is a former advisor in economics for the Barroso cabinet in the European Commission, in the Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA).

Education and career[]

Joep Konings holds a Master's degree in Applied Economic Sciences from the University of Antwerp in 1989, and a Master in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (1990). He also obtained his doctorate at the latter university in 1994, as a student of Nobel Prize winner Christopher Pissarides. His thesis was titled Gross job flows and wage determination in the U.K.: Evidence from firm level data.^[3]

In 1997 he became a senior lecturer at KU Leuven and director of the . In 2004 he became Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business of KU Leuven. In that capacity, he was one of the founders of research institute VIVES in 2008.^[4]

In 2008, Joep Konings stepped out of the academic world to strengthen the European Commission's Office of European Policy Advisors (BEPA), as an economics adviser in the cabinet of European President J.M. Barosso. He returned to KU Leuven in 2010, stating that he is primarily a researcher and that this is his preferred position from which to weigh in on policy.^[5][6]

In 2010 he became director of VIVES, KU Leuven, a research center that researches the socio-economic development of regions, with a focus on Flanders.^[7] Konings also has extensive international experience as a visiting fellow at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, IZA; , Bonn;^[8] Ljubljana University;^[9] Nazarbayev University in Astana Kazakhstan; Dartmouth College, USA; Trinity College in Dublin and the IMF.

Ideology[]

Joep Konings received a Flemish Methusalem grant for his research into the "granularity of the economy". He wants to use empirical research to investigate how and why certain companies can weigh more on an economy than others. The aim is to better predict economic shocks such as the 2009 crisis, which was not possible form the viewpoint of traditional macro-economy.^[10] As a Flemish top researcher, he regularly distributes articles via VIVES with results of the research and concrete measures that policy makers can take to make / keep the Flemish economy healthy. He also publishes opinion pieces in the Flemish economic newspaper De Tijd.^[11] He is known as one of the academics that advised government to do a so-called 'index jump' in Belgium to absorb the economic crisis of 2009, temporarily stalling the automatic wage indexation in 2015.^[12] As promoter of the Flemish Policy Research Centre 'Economics and Entrepreneurship' (Steunpunt Economie en Ondernemen), he and his team also carry out targeted research on the effects of Flemish policy measures.^[13]

References[]