Chris Humphrey will present his new book Financing the Future: Multilateral Development Banks in the Changing World Order of the 21st Century with Kathrin Muehlbronner, Natalya Naqvi and Ken Shadlen. 

Financing the Future explains how the unique governance arrangements and financial model of Multilateral Development Banks (MDB) shape their behavior. Outlining a theoretical framework suitable to the 30-odd MDBs around the world, the book uses this to show how different sets of MDBs are grappling with the challenges of the 21st century. This is the first book to explain the core of the MDB model as a unique class of international institution and shows how that model is playing out the traditional large MDBs, smaller borrower-led banks, and the two new MDBs recently created with the support of China. The combination of an original theoretical approach, rich quantitative and qualitative empirics, and clear writing means this book will appeal to both academic and practitioner audiences.

Speakers

Chris Humphrey is a researcher and policy consultant specializing in development finance and multilateral development banks. He is currently a senior scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology's Center for Development Cooperation (ETH NADEL) and a senior research associate at the UK's ODI think tank. Chris has advised numerous governments on development issues and undertaken consultancies on strategy and operational policy for several multilateral development banks, inter-governmental organizations and think tanks. In July 2021 he was named by the G20 to the Independent Review of Multilateral Development Banks Capital Adequacy Frameworks.

Previously, Chris worked in operations in the Latin America and Caribbean division of the World Bank (2001-2009) and consulted on loan operations with the African Development Bank (2009-2011). For eight years (1992-2000), he was a journalist covering political, economic and cultural issues in Latin America, based mainly in Mexico City. Chris has a PhD in International Development from the London School of Economics (2013), a Masters in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University (2001) and a Bachelors in Political Science from Reed College (1991).

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Kathrin Muehlbronner is Senior Vice President at Moody’s Investors Service, based in London. Kathrin joined Moody’s in April 2010 as a senior member of the Sovereign Risk Group. She is Moody’s Global MDB Lead, responsible for driving Moody’s research and outreach efforts on MDBs globally. She also covers a number of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) as lead analyst, such as the EBRD, IFC, AIIB, GuarantCo and The Currency Exchange Fund (TCX). Besides, she is the lead analyst for several sovereigns, including Turkey, Israel and Iceland, having covered Euro area sovereigns such as France, Italy, Spain and Greece in previous years. 

Prior to joining Moody’s Kathrin was a Director with Merrill Lynch for ten years, working as Sovereign Ratings Advisor to governments and banks in emerging markets. Prior to that, she was Chief Economist for Deutsche Bank in Spain. She holds a M.Sc. in Economics, Latin American Politics, Spanish and Portuguese languages from the University of Tuebingen as well as a post-graduate economics degree from the College of Europe, Bruges.

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Natalya Naqvi is Assistant Professor in International Political Economy at the Department of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research focuses on the role of the state and the financial sector in economic development, as well as the amount of policy space governments have to conduct industrial policy. She is also interested in the role of public banks, state owned enterprises, and the causes and consequences of privatisation.

Chair

Ken Shadlen is Professor of Development Studies in the Department of International Development of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Ken works on the comparative and international political economy of development, with a focus on understanding variation in national policy responses to changing global rules.