Thorvaldur Gylfason (Icelandic orthography Þorvaldur Gylfason; born 18 July 1951) is an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic economist who has been active in Icelandic public life. On 27 November 2010, he was elected to be a delegate at the

Icelandic Constitutional Assembly Icelandic refers to anything of, from, or related to Iceland and may refer to: *Icelandic people *Icelandic language *Icelandic alphabet * Icelandic cuisine See also * Icelander (disambiguation) * Icelandic Airlines, a predecessor of Icelandai ...

in 2011. He was also chairman of the

Iceland Democratic Party Iceland Democratic Party ( is, Lýðræðisvaktin, , Democracy Watch) was a political party in Iceland, founded 16 February 2013. It was founded with the primary goal of passing the new constitution formulated by the constitutional assembly appoint ...

Education

In 1973 he received the B.A. degree in economics at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

. He received the

PhD degree A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1976.

Career

Thorvaldur Gylfason has been professor of economics at the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( is, Háskóli Íslands ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' s ...

since 1983. He was visiting professor of public and unternational affairs at Princeton in 1986–1988. Prior to this he was an economist at the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

(IMF) in Washington from 1976 to 1981. Thorvaldur has been active in international policy debate as a research fellow at CESifo (Center for Economic Studies) at the University of Munich, research associate at the Center for U.S.-Japan Business and Economic Studies at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, and Fellow of the

European Economic Association The European Economic Association (EEA) is a professional academic body which links European economists. It was founded in the mid-1980s. Its first annual congress was in 1986 in Vienna and its first president was Jacques Drèze. The current pres ...

. He was senior research fellow at the Institute for International Economic Studies at

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

in 1978–1996, and research fellow at CEPR (Centre for Economic Policy Research) in London in 1987–2009. He has been a frequent consultant to the

and also the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

, and the

European Free Trade Association The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe, European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerlan ...

(EFTA). He was chairman of the failed Icelandic bank

Kaupthing Kaupthing Bank ( is, Kaupþing banki; ) was a major international Icelandic bank, headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland. It was taken over by the Icelandic government during the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis and the domestic Icelandic ...

from 1986 to 1990. He is also a fellow of the

. In 2013, the political party

was formed. Thorvaldur was chairman. The party did not win a seat in parliament. Thorvaldur left the position of chairman in late 2013. In 2019, Thorvaldur was offered the position of editor of the academic journal ''

Nordic Economic Policy Review Nordic most commonly refers to: * Nordic countries, written in plural as Nordics, the northwestern European countries, including Scandinavia, Fennoscandia and the North Atlantic * Scandinavia, a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region ...

'', but the offer was retracted after the Ministry of Finance mistakenly assumed he still held the position of chairman of the Iceland Democratic Party, the assumption being based on outdated information on Thorvaldur's

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...

page. The Ministry later apologized.

Publications

In the field of economics, Thorvaldur Gylfason has published numerous books, scientific papers in international journals and scholarly articles in his native Icelandic. He co-authored a book on the market economy that has been translated into seventeen languages, including Russian and Chinese.Arne Jon Isachsen, Thorvaldur Gylfason and Carl B Hamilton. ''Understanding the Market Economy''. Oxford University Press, December 1992. .

Public debate

Þorvaldur has written regular columns on a wide range of subjects in the Icelandic newspaper ''

Fréttablaðið ''Fréttablaðið'' ( en, The Newspaper) is a free Icelandic newspaper. It is distributed five days per week. History and profile ''Fréttablaðið'' was established in 2001. It was originally owned primarily by the media group '' 365''. The pape ...

'' since the early 2000s. He has been more prominent since the banking collapse of 2008.

Private life

Thorvaldur Gylfason is the son of former Finance Minister Gylfi Þorsteinsson Gíslason and brother of philosopher Thorsteinn Gylfason and politician

Vilmundur Gylfason Vilmundur Gylfason (7 August 1948 – 19 June 1983) was an Icelandic politician, historian and poet. He was the son of Gylfi Þorsteinsson Gíslason and Guðrún Vilmundardóttir. Family Vilmundur's father was Gylfi Þorsteinsson Gíslaso ...

. He is married.

References

External links

Thorvaldur Gylfason's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gylfason, Thorvaldur

Thorvaldur Gylfason Thorvaldur Gylfason (Icelandic orthography Þorvaldur Gylfason; born 18 July 1951) is an Icelandic economist who has been active in Icelandic public life. On 27 November 2010, he was elected to be a delegate at the Icelandic Constitutional Assem ...

Living people 1951 births Princeton University alumni Alumni of the University of Manchester

Fellows of the European Economic Association