Bernard Connolly is a British economist noted for his dislike of the

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

. He is known for writing ''The Rotten Heart of Europe: The Dirty War for Europe's Money''.

Biography

Connolly worked in the Industrial Trends and Forecasting Unit of the

Confederation of British Industry The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a UK business organisation, which in total claims to speak for 190,000 businesses, this is made up of around 1,500 direct members and 188,500 non-members. The non members are represented through the 1 ...

. Before joining AIG Connolly had spent a number of years working with 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 ...

in Brussels, where he was head of the unit responsible for the European Monetary System and monetary policies. While at the Commission Connolly was a Member of the Monetary Policy and Foreign Exchange Policy sub-committees of the Committee of Central Bank Governors and was on the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...

Group of High-Level Monetary Experts. After writing ''The Rotten Heart of Europe: The Dirty War for Europe's Money'', a negative treatment of the

European Exchange Rate Mechanism The European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) is a system introduced by the European Economic Community on 1 January 1999 alongside the introduction of a single currency, the euro (replacing ERM 1 and the euro's predecessor, the ECU) as ...

, he was terminated in 1995 from his employment at the

. An appeal of his dismissal to the European Court of Justice was unsuccessful. Prior to establishing CI, Connolly had spent 11 years as the global strategist for

Banque AIG American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/amer ...

and AIG Trading. As of 2011, Connolly, 61, was working as a financial consultant in New York City. Connolly currently heads Connolly Insight LP and participates in Hamiltonian Associates. He continues to have a negative view on the euro, and is a strong supporter of Brexit.

Publications

The publication of ''The Rotten Heart of Europe'' led the Wall Street Journal Europe to name Connolly as one of its outstanding Europeans of the year in 1995 and in March 2001 he received the Frøde Jakobsen prize, awarded in Denmark for outstanding moral courage in public affairs. More recently, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has identified Connolly as one of the very few economists who predicted the 2010 era global economic and financial crisis.

Books

* ''The Rotten Heart of Europe: The Dirty War for Europe's Money'' * ''You Always Hurt the One You Love: Central Banks and the Murder of Capitalism''

Reports

* ''Europe – Driver or Driven? EMU and the Lust for Crisis'', ACI Congress, May 30, 2008

References

External links

Connolly InsightHamiltonian AssociatesPanel: It's All Greek to Me: What's Next for the Euro Zone?
Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Works

*''The Rotten Heart of Europe: The Dirty War for Europe's Money'', Faber & Faber (June 1996), hardcover, 427 pages, , ; trade paperback, Faber & Faber (November 1, 1997), 432 pages, ,
AIG Trading Group and Banque AIG Past Research
{{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Bernard British economists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)