Robert Holzmann
Robert Holzmann is the Director of the Social Protection & Labor Department of the Human Development Network of the World Bank. This unit is, inter alia, in charge of the conceptual and strategic Bank work in the area of social risk management, covering social insurance (in particular pensions), labor market interventions, social safety nets, disability and development, and risk and vulnerability analysis. In the area of pension, the unit provides intellectual and operational guidance for staff working on pensions in some 100 countries.
Before joining the Bank he was professor of economics and the director to the European Institute at the University of Saarland, Germany (1992-97), and before professor of economics at the University of Vienna, Austria. He was also Visiting Professor at various universities in Japan, Chile and Austria, and lectured at Harvard University (USA) and Oxford University (UK). As principal administrator at the OECD (1985-87), he wrote a comprehensive report on public pension reform in industrialized countries. As senior economist at the IMF (1988-1990), he was heavily involved in fiscal and social security issues during the initial transition from plan to market. His research on and operational involvement extends to all regions of the world, and he has published 28 books and over 150 articles on social, fiscal and financial policy issues.