He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University, 1986. His general research area is the theory of incentives and organizations. He is Professor of Economics at ULB where he teaches introductory economics, microeconomic theory and contract theory. He has been part-time Visiting Professor at MIT and Research Director of CEPR. Fellow of the Econometric Society, laureate of the 1998 Francqui Prize and of the 2003 Yrjo Jahnsson Prize for Economics, he was elected President of the EEA for the Year 2005. He has also been appointed member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council in 2005. He was Managing Editor of the Review of Economic Studies (1990-94) and one of the three Programme co-chairs of the 2000 World Congress of the Econometric Society. He was outside Director of CGER-Bank (1992-99) and co-Director of ECARES (1991-2002). He is member of the Académie Royale De Belgique. He was Vice-Dean of the Faculté des Sciences sociales, politiques et économiques (2006-2008) and was the first Dean of the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (2010-2011). In april 2009, he has been elected Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Science. He has been appointed Director of the National Bank of Belgium in April 2011.

Economics, microeconomic theory and contract theory