Dr. Andrei Illarionov is currently a senior fellow at the Cato Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity andthe President of the Institute of Economic Analysis, an independenteconomic think tank in Moscow. Until December of 2005, he was Economic Adviser to the President of the Russian Federation. Dr. Illarionov is widely known in Russia and abroad for his sharp, comprehensive and often unexpected analyses of Russian economic policies and comparative economic development.
After completing his undergraduate degree in the Department of Economics at St. Petersburg University (SPU) in 1983, he completed a Ph.D. at the same institution in 1987 with a disseration comparing government finance in developed nations. Dr. Illarionov was an Assistant Professor for International Economics at SPU from 1983 to 1990. He also studied economics in Austria, the United Kingdom and the United States.
When Russia embarked on economic reforms in 1992, Dr. Illarionov joined the team of “young reformers” and became Deputy Director of the Center for Economic Reform, the Russian Government’s think tank. In April 1993 he was invited to be the Chief Economic Advisor of Viktor Chernomyrdin, then Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. He served in this capacity until February 1994 when he resigned to protest changes in the Government’s economic policy.
In July 1994 Dr. Illarionov founded the Institute of Economic Analysis (IEA) and became its director. Since then the IEA has become one of the leading Russian liberal economic research centers.
In April 2000 Dr. Illarionov was invited to serve as Chief Economic Advisor to the newly-elected Russian President Vladimir Putin. From May 2000 to January 2005 he was also Putin’s Personal Representative (or “Sherpa”) to the Group of Eight (G-8). While serving in President Putin’s administration, Dr. Illarionov was the driving force behind the adoption of a 13% flat income tax, the Russia’s government’s creation of a Stabilization Fund for windfall oil revenues, and the early repayment of foreign debt. Under his leadership, Russia became a full-fledged member of the G-8 in 2002.
In December 2005 Dr. Illarionov resigned from his post as Presidential Advisor.
Dr. Illarionov has co-authored several programs for Russian governments, and has written three books and over 300 articles on Russian economic and social policies. He is a regular commentator on current events in Russia. In the Spring and Summer of 1998 he was virtually the only voice insisting that Russian ruble was overvalued and would be devalued regardless of efforts by the Russian Government, the Russian Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to resist this inevitability. In August 1998 the ruble was devalued, thereby triggering a financial crisis that had negative repercussions on governments and investors around the world.
Dr.Illarionov has participated in numerous international conferences and seminars. He is a member of the Mont-Pelerin Society, Economic Freedom Network, European Association of Comparative Economic Studies and International Institute of Public Finance. Dr. Illarionov received honorary doctorates in economics from SPU, the Financial Academy in Moscow, and the Kyrgyz Slavonic University in Bishkek. He is also a Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. Over the course of his career, organizations have bestowed upon him the titles of Man of the Year, Forecaster of the Year, Financial Oracle of the Year.
