Winner of the first Willem F. Duisenberg Fellowship Prize is the economist Dr. Ralph De Haas. He receives the prize for young researchers on account of his influential research into international banking.
The President of De Nederlandsche Bank, Klaas Knot, handed Ralph De Haas the WFDF Prize 2014 on Tuesday 18th March, citing the jury report: the work of De Haas is very creative, broad, highly policy relevant and of exceptional quality.
Research on impact of international banking in emerging markets
Ralph De Haas receives this honour for his research into the impact of bank lending in emerging markets on households and small and medium-sized enterprises as well as for his research on the (in)stability of international credit flows.
In his presentation, De Haas emphasized the need for additional micro- and macro-level policies to reduce the volatility of international banking. Suppressing international bank lending through regulatory measures, would negatively affect the millions of people and businesses in emerging markets that currently benefit from access to foreign credit.
International banks should embed their subsidiaries in emerging markets more locally, to diminish their international dependence and stabilize local bank lending. Protection of consumers in emerging markets needs improvement too. Too often households are being burdened by high debts in foreign currencies. But, according to De Haas, research shows that the role of international banks in emerging markets is generally a positive one.
Ralph De Haas (1976) is Deputy Director of Research at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Associate Professor of Finance at Tilburg University.
De Haas has published in, among others, The Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, and The American Economic Review.
The Willem F. Duisenberg Fellowship Prize encourages young reserachers
The Willem F. Duisenberg Fellowship Prize aims to foster excellence in applied policy research in the Netherlands and will be awarded to outstanding young scholars in the area of applied monetary economics, applied macroeconomics, financial stability or public finance.
The Prize has been developed in partnership with the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS-KNAW) and with the Duisenberg School of Finance. The WFDF Foundation is sponsored by De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch Ministry of Finance, ABN AMRO, AEGON, ING Group and Rabobank Nederland.
The jury of the prize consists of the President of De Nederlandsche Bank, Klaas Knot (Chair), the Treasurer General of the Ministry of Finance, Hans Vijlbrief, the former President of De Nederlandsche Bank, Nout Wellink, the Dean of the Duisenberg School of Finance, Dirk Schoenmaker and the Chairman of the Willem F. Duisenberg Foundation, Victor Halberstadt.