Speaker biographies

Steven J. Davis is a visiting scholar at AEI and the William H. Abbott Professor of International Business and Economics at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He is also a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research and has previously taught at Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is an applied economist with broad interests in labor markets, business dynamics, competition, and public policy. His recent research addresses hiring behavior in labor markets, tax effects on work activity, electricity pricing to industrial customers, the climate for business development in Puerto Rico, the performance of the Swedish economy, costs and benefits of the Iraq war, and the volatility of publicly traded and privately held businesses in the United States. He currently serves on a National Research Council panel on Measuring Business Formation, Dynamics and Performance. On leave from the University of Chicago in 2007, Davis is a vice president at CRA International, an economics and business consultancy firm.

John B. Taylor is the Mary and Robert Raymond professor of economics at Stanford University and the Bowen H. and Janice Arthur McCoy senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He formerly served as the director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, where he is now a senior fellow, and he was founding director of Stanford's Introductory Economics Center. Taylor is currently a member of the California Governor's Council of Economic Advisors, where he also previously served from 1996 to 1998. In the past, he served as senior economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1976 to 1977, as a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1989 to 1991. He was also a member of the Congressional Budget Office's Panel of Economic Advisers from 1995 to 2001. For four years from 2001 to 2005, Taylor served as Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs where he was responsible for U.S. policies in international finance, which includes currency markets, trade in financial services, foreign investment, international debt and development, and oversight of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. He was also responsible for coordinating financial policy with the G-7 countries, was chair of the working party on international macroeconomics at the OECD, and was a member of the Board of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. His book Global Financial Warriors: The Untold Story of International Finance in the Post-9/11 World chronicles his years as head of the international division at Treasury. Taylor was awarded the Alexander Hamilton Award for his overall leadership in international finance at the U.S. Treasury. He was also awarded the Treasury Distinguished Service Award for designing and implementing the currency reforms in Iraq, and the Medal of the Republic of Uruguay for his work in resolving the 2002 financial crisis. In 2005, he was awarded the George P. Shultz Distinguished Public Service Award. Taylor has also won many teaching awards; he was awarded the Hoagland Prize for excellence in undergraduate teaching and the Rhodes Prize for his high teaching ratings in Stanford's introductory economics course. He also received a Guggenheim Fellowship for his research, and he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society; he formerly served as vice president of the American Economic Association. Before joining the Stanford faculty in 1984, Taylor held positions as professor of economics at Princeton University and Columbia University.

Faryar Shirzad joined Goldman, Sachs & Co. in August 2006 as vice president and director of international public policy. Mr. Shirzad is responsible for coordinating the firm’s efforts with respect to international public policy matters, as well as for advising colleagues and clients on international policy and regulatory matters. Prior to joining Goldman, Sachs, Mr. Shirzad served on the staff of the National Security Council at the White House from March 2003 through August 2006, first as a special assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs, and then as deputy assistant to the President and deputy national security advisor for International Economic Affairs.  In those roles, Mr. Shirzad was responsible for advising the President, the National Security Advisor and the Director of the National Economic Council on all international economic policy matters, including trade, investment, finance, development, energy and environment.  He also served as the President’s personal representative to the G-8 (the “G8 Sherpa”), and led the preparations for the President’s participation in other international economic summits, such as the U.S.-E.U. Summit, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum and the Summit of the Americas. Prior to his time at the White House, Mr. Shirzad was assistant secretary for Import Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he administered the U.S. trade remedy laws, and was responsible for negotiating agreements in a number industry sectors around the globe.  Prior to that, he was the trade policy coordinator on the Bush-Cheney Transition Team.  He began his career in public service as international trade counsel on the majority staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance under Chairman William V. Roth (R-DE).   He previously practiced law in Washington, DC at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, where he advised clients on international trade and regulatory matters.

Paul Wolfowitz was unanimously approved as tenth president of the World Bank Group by the institution’s Board of Executive Directors on March 31, 2005. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Wolfowitz spent more than three decades as a public servant, ambassador and educator, including 24 years in government service under seven U.S. presidents. His practical experience in the developing world includes three years in Indonesia as U.S. Ambassador, and his Washington-based policy work on East Asian affairs. Mr. Wolfowitz also has been a leader in higher education. From 1994-2001, he served as dean and professor of International Relations at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. Earlier, he taught political science at Yale University. Mr. Wolfowitz has written widely on foreign policy, diplomacy and national security, and was a member of the advisory board of Foreign Affairs. In government, Mr. Wolfowitz served three years under Secretary of State George Shultz as ambassador to Indonesia, the fourth most-populous country in the world and largest in the Muslim world. During Ambassador Wolfowitz’s tenure in that country, he was known for reaching out to all elements of society and for his advocacy of reform and political openness. Under his leadership, the embassy in Jakarta was officially recognized as one of the best-managed U.S. diplomatic missions in the world. Earlier, Mr. Wolfowitz served two years as head of the U. S. State Department’s Policy Planning Office and three-and-a-half years as assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, where he worked directly with the leaders of more than 20 countries. In that position, Mr. Wolfowitz played a key role in supporting the peaceful transition to democracy in the Philippines in 1986. He also worked to help improve U.S. relations with China, strengthen alliances with Japan and Korea, and lay the groundwork for the subsequent democratic transition in Korea. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush appointed Mr. Wolfowitz to the post of under secretary of Defense for Policy, where he played a role in planning for the successful liberation of Kuwait, including organizing the fundraising effort that raised $50 billion in multilateral support. He also collaborated on the U.S. administration’s nuclear arms reduction initiative, in September 1991. As deputy secretary of defense under President George W. Bush from 2001-2005, Mr. Wolfowitz’s responsibilities included oversight of the budget process as well as development of policy to respond to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

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