Patrick Honohan
Patrick Honohan | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 9, 1949 Ireland |
| Occupation(s) | Economist, public official |
| Years active | 1971–present |
| Known for | Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland (2009–2015), member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank |
Patrick Honohan (born 9 October 1949) is an Irish economist and public official who held the position of Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland between 2009 and 2015. During this period, he also served on the Governing Council of the European Central Bank. Since 2016, he has been affiliated as a nonresident senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics. His governorship was notably centered on addressing the challenges arising from the Post-2008 Irish banking crisis.
Education
Honohan obtained a B.A. degree in Economics and Mathematics from University College Dublin in 1971, followed by an M.A. in Economics in 1973. He pursued further studies at the London School of Economics, earning an M.Sc. in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics in 1974, and subsequently completed his PhD in Economics there in 1978.
Professional career
Starting his professional journey at the International Monetary Fund in 1971, Honohan later joined the economics division of the Central Bank of Ireland while finalizing his doctoral studies. Throughout the fiscal difficulties Ireland faced during the 1980s, he acted as Economic Advisor to Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, providing counsel on matters such as income taxation, social welfare policies, restructuring of state enterprises, legislative reforms, oversight of national statistics, and the devaluation of the Irish pound in 1986.
He spent seven years serving as Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute before returning to the World Bank in 1998 as Lead Economist and Senior Advisor. In this capacity, Honohan concentrated on financial sector challenges within emerging economies including China, Viet Nam, Egypt, Iran, and Tanzania. He also played a significant role in the collaborative World Bank-IMF Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), leading several missions such as Lebanon’s inaugural FSAP in 1999.
An accomplished author of numerous scholarly articles and monographs, Honohan has lectured in economics at several universities including LSE, University of California, San Diego, Australian National University, University College Dublin, and was appointed Professor of International Financial Economics and Development at Trinity College, Dublin in 2007.
His academic work primarily focuses on preventing and managing banking crises, financial liberalization processes, dollarization effects, and how financial inclusion contributes to poverty alleviation. Additionally, he has investigated distortions in Irish macroeconomic data caused by multinational corporations.
Appointed as the tenth Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland in September 2009, Honohan earned recognition as a candid communicator who challenged the pre-crisis "green jersey agenda". His May 2010 Report on the Irish Banking Crisis provided an extensive analysis criticizing regulatory shortcomings that led to the crisis. Under his stewardship, the Central Bank’s international reputation was significantly enhanced, culminating in its designation as "Central Bank of the Year" by CentralBanking.com in January 2016.
Honohan was instrumental in navigating Ireland’s banking and fiscal turmoil through measures such as central bank liquidity provision, recapitalization of banks at shareholder cost, liquidation of certain institutions, and restructuring sovereign debt—all supported by financial assistance from the IMF, European Union, and European Central Bank. He detailed these experiences in his 2019 publication Currency, Credit and Crisis.
Quotations
After stepping down from his role at the Central Bank of Ireland, Honohan has openly addressed the impact of U.S. multinational BEPS mechanisms on the accuracy of Ireland's national accounts. These types of distortions are frequently observed in corporate tax haven jurisdictions, with Ireland recognized as one of the globe's most significant havens. During the period known as leprechaun economics, he remarked:
Concerning periods of rapid credit expansion, he observed:
Other activities
- European Central Bank (ECB), Ethics Committee Chairperson (2019–22)
See also
- Irish property bubble
- Post-2008 Irish economic downturn
- National Asset Management Agency
- Ireland as a tax haven