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Committee for Development Policy

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Office of the Director

The Office of the Director (OD) coordinates the activities of the Division at large, administers and executes various development account projects aiming at capacity building in developing countries in macroeconomic and development policy analysis, manages the Division's human and financial resources, and takes care of the Division's external relations within UN-DESA, with the inter-governmental process of the UN, with other UN and non-UN agencies and with the general public.

Rob Vos, Director

Rob Vos joined the United Nations in 2005 as Director of DPAD. Before joining the UN, he was a Professor of Finance and Development at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, and Professor of Development Economics at the Free University Amsterdam. Between 1999 and 2002, he was Deputy Rector of the Institute of Social Studies. He has also worked as a senior economist at the Inter-American Development Bank where he co-founded the Inter-American Institute for Social Development (INDES) and initiated the programme on improving surveys of living conditions in Latin America (MECOVI). He has also been a visiting professor at numerous universities in and outside of Europe. He has worked as a policy advisor and consultant to numerous governments in Latin America, Africa and Asia. His academic and advisory work covers a broad range of development issues, including trade policy, inequality and poverty; financing for development; poverty and social policy analysis; and macroeconomic and general equilibrium modeling for development policy. His most recent books include Globalization and Economic Diversification: Policy Challenges for Economies in Transition (with MalinkaKoparanova, Bloomsbury, 2011), Economic Insecurity and Development (with Richard Kozul-Wright, United Nations, 2011), Public Policies for Human Development (Palgrave, 2010), Ageing and Development (with José Antonio Ocampo and Ana Luiza Cortez, Oriental Blackswan/Zed Books, 2007), Uneven Economic Development (with José Antonio Ocampo, Longman Oriental/Zed Books, 2007); Growth Divergences (with José Antonio Ocampo and Jomo K.S., Longman Oriental/Zed Books, 2007), Who gains from Free Trade in Latin America? (Routledge, 2006), and Illusions and Disillusions with Pro-Poor Growth (SIDA, 2006).

Rob Vos is a national of the Netherlands and has a Ph.D in Economics from the Free University Amsterdam.

Rob Vos
Director, Development Policy and Analysis Division
Department of Economic and Social Affairs
United Nations
2 United Nations Plaza
DC2-2020
New York, NY 10017
Tel: (212) 963 4838
Fax: (212) 963 1061
email:

Statements, presentations and selected publications

'What we do and don't know about trade liberalization and poverty reduction', Keynote address to 'Trade and Poverty Policy Forum, organized by the Inter-American Development Bank and Poverty and Economic Policy Research Network (PEP), Lima, Peru, June 11, 2007. (DESA WP No. 50)

Books

Rob Vos and Malinka Koparanova (eds) (2011) Globalization and Economic Diversification: Policy Challenges for Economies in Transition, London: Bloomsbury.

Rob Vos and Richard Kozul-Wright (eds) (2011) Economic Insecurity and Development, New York: United Nations.

Rob Vos, Marco V. Sánchez, Enrique Ganuza, Hans Lofgren and Carolina Diaz-Bonilla (2010) Public Policies for Human Development: Achieving the MDGs in Latin America, London, New York: Palgrave/Macmillan.

Rob Vos, José Antonio Ocampo and Ana Luiza Cortez (2008) Ageing and Development, London, New York and Hyderabad: Oriental Longman and Zed Press.

Mauricio León, José Rosero and Rob Vos (2008) El Reto de Alcanzar los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio en Ecuador. Un análisis de equilibrio general de los requerimientos de financiamiento, Quito and New York: Secretaria Técnica del Ministerio de Coordinación Social y Desarrollo.

José Antonio Ocampo and Rob Vos (2008) Uneven Economic Development, Hyderabad, London, New York: Orient Longman, Zed Books, TWN.

José Antonio Ocampo, Jomo K.S. and Rob Vos (eds) (2007) Growth Divergences: Explaining Differences in Economic Performance, Hyderabad, London, New York: Orient Longman, Zed Books, TWN.

Rob Vos and Maritza Cabezas (2006) Illusions and Disillusions with Pro-Poor Growth, Stockholm: SIDA

Rob Vos, Enrique Ganuza, Sam Morley and Sherman Robinson (2006) Who gains from Free Trade? Export-led Growth and Poverty in Latin America, London: Routledge.

Enrique Ganuza, Sam Morley, Sherman Robinson and Rob Vos (eds) (2004) ¿Quién se beneficia del libre comercio? Promoción de exportaciones y pobreza en América latina y el caribe en los 90, Bogotá: Alfaomega.

Rob Vos and Mauricio León (2004) Dolarización, dinámica de exportaciones y equidad: ¿ cómo compatibilizarlas en el caso de Ecuador?, Quito: AbyaYalaPublishers (Estudios e Informes del SIISE No. 5).

Rob Vos and others (2003) ¿Quién se beneficia del gasto social en Ecuador? Desafíos para mejorar la eficiencia y la equidad del gasto social, Quito: AbyaYalaPublishers (August).

Rob Vos, Mauricio León and others (2003) La Matriz de Contabilidad Social para Ecuador, 1993, Quito: AbyaYalaPublishers.

Rob Vos, Lance Taylor and Ricardo Paes de Barros (eds) (2002) Economic Liberalization, Distribution and Poverty: Latin America in the 1990s, Cheltenham UK, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishers.

Enrique Ganuza, Lance Taylor, Ricardo Paes de Barros and Rob Vos (eds.) Liberalización, Desigualdad y Pobreza en América Latina y el Caribe, Buenos Aires: Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires.

Rob Vos and Mauricio León (2000) La pobreza urbana en el Ecuador: Mitos y realidades, Quito: Abya-YalaPublishers.

Rob Vos (2000) Ecuador 1999: Crisis y Protección Social, Quito: Abya-YalaPublishers.

Karel Jansen and Rob Vos (1997) External Finance and Adjustment: Failure and Success in the Developing World, London, New York: Macmillan and St. Martin's Press.

Rob Vos and Josef Yap (1996) The Philippine Economy: Stray Cat of East Asia? Finance, Adjustment and Development in the Philippines, London, New York: Macmillan and St. Martin's Press.

Rob Vos (1994) Debt and Adjustment in the World Economy, Debt and Adjustment. Structural Asymmetries in North-South Interactions, London, New York: Macmillan and St. Martin's Press.

Rob Vos, Mario Lamberte, Joseph Lim, Josef Yap, E. Tan and M.S. Zingapan (1991) External Finance, Domestic Resource Mobilization and Development in the Philippines, 1970-1990, Manila: PIDS.

Jorge Alarcón, Jan van Heemst, Steven Keuning, Willem de Ruijter and Rob Vos (1991) The Social Accounting Framework for Development. Concepts, Construction and Applications, Aldershot: Avebury/Gower.

E.V.K. FitzGerald and Rob Vos (1987) Financing Economic Development. A Structural Approach to Monetary Policy, Aldershot: Gower.

Rudolf Teekens, Lidia Barreiros, Arend Kouwenaar and Rob Vos (1988) Theory and Policy Design for Basic Needs Satisfaction. A Case Study of Ecuador, Aldershot: Gower/Avebury. (Also in Spanish, published in 1987 as: Ecuador: Teoría y diseño de políticas para la satisfacción de las necesidades básicas, Santiago: OIT/PREALC.)

Rob Vos and Edgar de Labastida (1987) El Salario y los Niveles de Vida Urbanos, Quito: Publicaciones Universidad Central-IIE.

Rob Vos, Karel Jansen and Joke Luttik (1987) Schuld en armoede. De lange weg naar een structurele oplossing van de schuldencrisis (Debt and poverty. The long road towards a structural solution of the debt crisis; in Dutch), The Hague: SDU drukkerij/Junior Kamer.

Rob Vos (1987) Industrialización, Empleo y Necesidades Básicas en Ecuador, Quito: Corporación Editora Nacional.

Rob Vos (ed.) (1987) From Crisis to Equitable Growth. A New Development Agenda for Latin America, Aldershot: Gower/Avebury. (Also published in Spanish as: De crisis a crecimientoequitativo, The Hague: Institute of Social Studies, 1987).

Selected recent articles and papers:

Rob Vos (2011) 'Illusions and Disillusions with Poverty Reduction Strategies: Growth, crisis and the MDGs in Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua', in: European Journal for Development Research Vol. 23 No. 1.

Rob Vos and Marco V. Sánchez (2010) 'A Non-Parametric Microsimulation Approach to Assess Changes in Inequality and Poverty', in: International Journal of Microsimulation Vol. 3, No. 1.

Rob Vos and Marco V. Sánchez (2010) 'Liberalizing trade and its impact on poverty and inequality in Nicaragua', in: Kym Anderson, John Cockburn and Will Martin (eds) Agricultural Price Distortions, Inequality and Poverty, London, New York: Palgrave/Macmillan.

(2010) 'The Crisis of Globalization as an Opportunity to Create a Fairer World', in: Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Vol. 11, No. 1 (February), pp. 143–160.

Rob Vos (2009) "Green or mean: Is biofuels production undermining food security?" in: M.A. Mohamed Salih (ed.) Climate Change and Sustainable Development. New Challenges for Poverty Reduction, Cheltenham (UK) and Horthampton (MA): Edward Elgar, pp. 233-250.

Rob Vos, Pingfan Hong and Keping Yao (2008) "How China could contribute to a benign global rebalancing", China and the World Economy, vol. 16, No. 5, September-October 2008, pp. 35-50.

Rob Vos (2008) 'What we know and do not know about trade liberalization and poverty reduction', in: John Cockburn and Paolo Giordano (eds.) Trade and Poverty in the Developing World, Washington D.C.: Inter-American Development Bank and Poverty and Economic Policy Network, pp. 31-66.

J.A. Ocampo, Jomo K.S. and Rob Vos "Explaining growth divergences", in: José Antonio Ocampo, Jomo K.S. and Rob Vos (eds), Diverging Growth, London, New York and Hyderabad: Oriental Longman and Zed Press, pp. 1-24.

José Antonio Ocampo and Rob Vos (2008) 'Policy space and the changing paradigm in conducting macroeconomic policies in developing countries', BIS Papers No. 36 (February), pp 28-45 (Bank for International Settlements).

Rob Vos (2007) ''What we do and don't know about trade liberalization and poverty reduction'', DESA Working paper No. 50, New York, United Nations (May).

Rob Vos, Marco Sánchez and Keiji Inoue (2007) 'Constraints to achieving the MDGs through domestic resource mobilization', DESA Working paper No. 36, New York, United Nations (May).

Marco V. Sánchez and Rob Vos (2006) 'DR-CAFTA: panacea o fatalidad para el desarrollo económico y social en Nicaragua?' SerieEstudios y Perspectivas No. 57, CEPAL, Mexico: United Nations.

Rob Vos, José Cuesta, Mauricio León, Ruth Lucio and José Rosero (2006) "Meeting the Millennium Development Goal for Health: A cost-effectiveness analysis for Ecuador", European Journal of Development Research, Vol. 18, No. 2 (June): 179-202.

Rob Vos (2005) 'Globalization, rising labour inequality and poverty in Latin America', in: José Antonio Ocampo (ed.) (2005) Beyond Reforms. Structural Dynamics and Macroeconomic Theory, Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 117-142.

Enrique Ganuza, Sam Morley, Sherman Robinson and Rob Vos (2005) "Are Export Promotion and Trade Liberalization Good for Latin America's Poor? A Comparative Macro-Micro CGE Analysis", Development Policy Review, Vol. 23, No. 3: 385-403.

Rob Vos and Marco Sánchez (2004) 'The Netherlands', in: ZigaVodusek (ed.) (2004) Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America. The Role of European Investors: An Update, Paris, Washington: Johns Hopkins University Press (for Inter-American Development Bank), pp. 151-166.

Rob Vos (2004) "Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models for development policy analysis", in: Tim Forsythe (ed) Encyclopedia of International Development, London: Routledge, pp. 109-112.

Rob Vos, ArjunBedi, Paul Kimalu, Damiano Kulundu, Nancy Nafula and Mwangwi S. Kimenyi (2004) 'Achieving Universal Primary Education: Can Kenya afford it?', KIPPRA Policy Brief, Nairobi: KIPPRA.

Rob Vos and Niek de Jong (2003) 'Trade liberalization and poverty in Ecuador. A Macro-micro CGE approach', Economic Systems Research 15(2): 211-232 (June, special issue).

Rob Vos (2003) 'Editorial: Accounting for poverty and income distribution analysis', Economic Systems Research 15(2): 107-112 (June, special issue).

Lance Taylor and Rob Vos (2002) 'Balance of payments liberalization in Latin America: effects on growth, distribution and poverty', in: Rob Vos, Lance Taylor and Ricardo Paes de Barros (eds.) Economic Liberalization, Distribution and Poverty: Latin America in the 1990s, Cheltenham UK, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishers, pp. 1-53.

Rob Vos (2002) 'Economic reforms, development and distribution: Were the founding fathers of development theory right', in: E.V.K. FitzGerald (ed.) Social Institutions and Economic Development. A Tribute to Kurt Martin, Dordrecht, Boston, London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 85-100.

Rob Vos (2002) 'Currency volatility and policy coordination', in: P. Van Dijck and M. Wiesenbron (eds.) Ten Years of Mercosur, Amsterdam: CEDLA, pp. 21-36.

Rob Vos, Donald Winkler and S. Parandekar (2002) 'Ecuador: Crisis, Poverty and Social Protection', in: Paul Beckerman and Andrés Solimano (eds.) Crisis and Dollarization in Ecuador, Washington D.C., New York: Oxford University Press (for the World Bank), pp. 127-176.

Rob Vos and José Antonio Mejía (1999) 'Poverty and 'trickling down' in Latin America and the Caribbean (1980-95): Robust answers or misleading data?' in: F. Graham Pyatt and Michael Ward (eds.) Identifying the Poor, Amsterdam, Oxford, etc.: IOS Press, pp. 173-206.

Rob Vos (1998) 'How to measure the economic cost of natural disasters? The case of "El Niño" in Ecuador, 1997-8', European Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 67: 21-34 (December).

Rob Vos, Luis Jácome and Carlos Larrea (1998) 'Políticas macroeconómicas, distribución y pobreza en el Ecuador', in: Enrique Ganuza, Samuel Morley and Lance Taylor (eds) Política Macroeconómica y pobreza en América Latina y el Caribe, Madrid: Ediciones Mundo-Prensa, pp. 435-488.

Samuel Morley and Rob Vos (1998) 'Pobreza y crecimiento dualista en Paraguay', in: Enrique Ganuza, Samuel Morley and Lance Taylor (eds) Política Macroeconómica y pobreza en América Latina y el Caribe, Madrid: Ediciones Mundo-Prensa, pp. 669-712.

Rob Vos, Haeduck Lee and José Antonio Mejía (1998)'Structural adjustment and poverty in Bolivia', in: P. van Dijck (ed) Structural Adjustment, Poverty Alleviation and External Donors, Amsterdam: CEDLA, pp. 83-140.

Rob Vos (1998)`The Macroeconomics of Aid in Nicaragua', in: Howard White (ed.) The Macroeconomics of Aid. Case Studies of Four Countries, London, New York: Macmillan and St. Martin's Press 1998.

Rob Vos (1998) `Aid flows and 'Dutch disease' in a general equilibrium framework for Pakistan', Journal of Policy Modeling 20(1): 77-109 (February).

Rob Vos (1996) `Financial reform, institutions and macroeconomic adjustment: The destabilizing effects of financial liberalization in the Philippines, 1970-92', in: K.L. Gupta (ed.) Experiences with Financial Liberalization, Series: Recent Economic Thought, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 101-130.

Rob Vos (1996) `The foreign sector: towards a World Accounting Matrix' in: John Kendrick (ed.) The New System of National Accounts, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp.343-386.

Rob Vos and Niek de Jong (1995) 'Regional blocs or global markets?A World Accounting approach to analyze trade and financial linkages', WeltwirtschaftlichesArchiv, Vol. 131 No. 4, December, pp. 748-773. (also reprinted in: Thomas L. Brewer (ed.) (1999) Trade and Investment Policy, Cheltenham (UK) and Northampton (US): Edward Elgar, pp. 533-558).

Rob Vos and Niek de Jong (1995) `Trade and financial flows in a World Accounting Framework: A balanced WAM for 1990', The Review of Income and Wealth, Series 41, No. 2, June, pp. 139-159.

Rob Vos and Alejandro Izurieta (1994) `Ajuste estructural y costo social en América Latina ¿ Qué nos explican los estudios recientes ?', El Trimestre Económico, Mexico, Vol. LXI(1) (January-March): 27-84.

E.V.K. FitzGerald, Karel Jansen and Rob Vos (1994), `External constraints on private investment decisions in developing countries', in: J.W. Gunning et al. (eds) Trade, Aid and Development. Essays in Honour of Hans Linnemann, London: Macmillan.

Rob Vos (1993) 'Aid flows and the international transfer problem in a structuralist North-South model', Economic Journal, Vol. 103: 494-508 (March).

Rob Vos (1993) `Prospects of financial flows to developing countries in the 1990s. The global macroeconomic trade-offs', in: UNCTAD, International Monetary Issues for the 1990s. Research Papers for the Group of 24, New York: United Nations, pp. 1-56.

Rob Vos (1992) `Private foreign asset accumulation, not just capital flight: evidence from the Philippines', Journal of Development Studies, 28 (3): 500-537.

Rob Vos (1990) "Global accounting framework: comment", in: F. Desmond McCarthy (ed) Problems of Developing Countries in the 1990s, Volume I, World Bank Discussion Papers 97, Washington: World Bank.

Rob Vos (1989) "Accounting for the World Economy", The Review of Income and Wealth, Series 35 No. 4 (December).

Rob Vos (1988) "Savings, investments and foreign capital flows: Have capital markets become more integrated?", Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3 (April).

Rob Vos (1988) "Global savings, investments and adjustment: On the micro and macroeconomic foundations of North-South interdependence", in: D. Currie and D. Vines (eds) Macroeconomic Interactions between North and South, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.