Masahiro Kawai

Masahiro Kawai is Professor of Economics, Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo.

He recently returned from the Ministry of Finance, Japan to the University of Tokyo. In the Ministry, Dr. Kawai served as the President of the Policy Research Institute and as the Deputy Vice Minister for International Affairs during 2001-2003. Before working for the Ministry, Professor Kawai served as the Chief Economist of the World Bank's East Asia and Pacific Region during 1998-2001. Kawai has been a faculty member at the Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo, since 1986. Before joining the University of Tokyo, Kawai taught at the Johns Hopkins University (1978-1986, 1988) as an Assistant and Associate Professor and was a Research Fellow for the Brookings Institution (1977-1978). He also taught at the University of British Columbia (1991-92) as a Visiting Associate Professor and at New York University (1992-93) as a Research Scientist. In addition, he has served as: a Coordinator of the Japan Financial Markets Development Committee for the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (1997-98); a consultant for the International Monetary Fund (1992, 1997-98); a Special Research Advisor for the Institute of Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Ministry of Finance (1988-94, 1997-98); and a consultant for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (1979). The articles, essays, and reviews written by Kawai have been published extensively in professional journals and books and cover the fields of international finance, open-macroeconomics, Asian money and capital markets, contemporary Japanese economy, international development finance, economics of commodity and futures markets, and housing demand. His recent books include: The New World Fiscal Order: Implications for Industrialized Nations (co-edited with C. Eugene Steuerle), Washington, D.C., Urban Institute, 1996; Financia Development and Integration in East Asia (co-edited with ChoongYong Ahan, et.al.), Seoul: Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, 2003.Exchange Rate Regimes in East Asia (co-edited with Gordon de Brouwer),London and New York, Routledge Curzon,2004; Kawai received his BA and MA in Economics from the University of Tokyo, his MS in Statistics and his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University.

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