The Amsterdam School of Economics (ASE) professor received the award for his academic work and for the relevance of his work. In the past decades, he has often been published in top economic journals. Besides being an academic, Van Wijnbergen was also affiliated with the World Bank in top positions and was secretary-general at the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Important contribution

When presenting the award Klaas Knot said that Van Wijnbergen's work has pushed the front line of economic science in a large number of areas. ‘Your social involvement and impatience have made an important contribution to economic policy. Here and elsewhere in the world’, said Knot.

Sweder van Wijnbergen

Van Wijnbergen obtained his master's degree in physics at the University of Utrecht in 1975 and 2 years later his master's degree in econometrics at Erasmus University Rotterdam. He obtained his PhD in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge (USA) in 1980.

After his PhD he worked at the World Bank, where he continued to publish extensively. Here he was chief economist for Mexico and Latin America and later for Eastern Europe. Van Wijnbergen has been professor of economics at the University of Amsterdam since 1993 and publishes frequently in the fields of international economics, macroeconomics and public finance. In addition, he has been advising various governments, companies and banks in Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, and nowadays also in the Netherlands.

About the Pierson Medal

The Pierson Medal is an initiative of the Mr. N.G. Pierson Fund. Nicolaas Pierson was a professor at the University of Amsterdam, DNB president and prime minister of the Netherlands from 1897 to 1901.