I am reluctant to kick someone when they are down...but the hypocrisy from the *institutions* involved is staggering.
Lopez-de-Silanes and his Yale International Institute for Corporate Governance (he is the founding Director) are central players in the bashing of 3rd World countries for corruption, lack of financial transparency, lack of "good governance" in the private and public sectors. These shortcomings were said to be a major reason for removing the current power structure, dismantling existing institutions and relying on privatizations and free markets.
Yale lured Lopez-de-Silanes from Harvard in a major, if expensive, coup. The Institute was inaugurated by the President of the World Bank which (along with the IMF and others) heavily financed Mr. Lopez-de-Silanes and his work as backing for its transformations in the 3rd world. Lopez-de-Silanes dispensed his advice on corruption, transparency and free markets with leaders such as President Fox of Mexico at his side. Mr. Lopez-de-Silanes was also a close collaborator of Andrei Sheifer of Harvard with whom he worked on Russia and with whom he regularly and recently authored several papers; Mr. Shleifer was convicted on federal corruption charges last June and was subsequently made Editor of the prestigious Journal of Economic Perspectives by the AEA.
The circumstances of this resignation are not entirely clear. It would seem to require extensive and willful effort to double bill the World Bank and Yale for travel incidentals amounting to $150,000 (the WB, insists on directly purchasing big ticket items such as travel tickets and requires original receipts and personally signed requests for reimbursement of incidentals; no doubt Yale has similar paperwork requirements). Yet Mr. Lopez-de-Silanes' explanation (issued through his lawyer) relied on the intensity of his workload. The World Bank and Yale heavily financed work that demanded transparency (even at the expense of wrenching social changes) from public and private institutions in the face of financial misdeeds and mismanagement. Yet the World Bank has refused substantive comment and Yale "would not say anything beyond that the resignation was 'a result of financial misconduct and irregularities". The public is owed some further explanation *from these institutions themselves*.
Paul
Louis P. writes:
(Sounds to me like he was putting bourgeois economics into practice.)
CNN.com Yale economist resigns over financial misconduct Tuesday, January 11, 2005 Posted: 9:43 AM EST (1443 GMT)
STAMFORD, Connecticut (AP) -- A renowned economist who headed an academic think tank at Yale University is resigning because of financial misconduct, a school spokesman said Monday.
Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes, a tenured finance and economics professor, issued a statement acknowledging "an error," but neither he nor Yale provided details.
The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, reported Monday that Lopez-de-Silanes allegedly double-billed Yale for about $150,000 in travel expenses since 2001.
The World Bank, for whom he worked as a consultant, is conducting a separate inquiry into contracts awarded to the 38-year-old Lopez-de-Silanes, said Damian Milverton, a spokesman for the financial institution.
Lopez-de-Silanes, who was born in Mexico, had run Yale's International Institute for Corporate Governance since it was created within the business school in July 2001.
"I made a mistake and I deeply regret any unintended harm," he said. "I have taken appropriate corrective steps with all affected parties and I can offer no excuse except the intensity of my focus on my work."
Yale spokesman Tom Conroy said Lopez-de-Silanes will resign June 30. He would not say anything beyond that the resignation was "a result of financial misconduct and irregularities."
