Ugo Panizza is Professor of Economics and Pictet Chair in Finance and Development at the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and a Vice President of CEPR. He holds a PhD in economics from The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. He has been the Chief of the Debt and Finance Analysis Unit at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and a Senior Economist in the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank. He also worked at the World Bank and taught at the American University of Beirut and at the University of Torino. His research activity focuses on sovereign debt and default, economic growth, macroeconomic policies and the role of the state in the financial sector.