Bert Hofman
Professor and former Director, East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore | Non-resident Senior Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute | Senior Fellow, MERICS
Bert Hofman, a Dutch national, is the former director of the East Asian Institute of the National University Singapore and now professor at that institute.
He was also a professor in practice at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of NUS. He is also a Senior Fellow at MERICS in Germany, non-resident senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, and Member of the World Association for China Studies. Before joining NUS, he worked with the World Bank for 27 years, 22 of which in Asia, and 12 of which on China. Mr. Hofman was the World Bank Country Director for China 2014-2019, the country economist 2004-2008, and the Chief Economist for the World Bank in the East Asia and Pacific region 2011-2014. He also worked on Indonesia, the Philippines, Korea and Mongolia, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Brazil, Russia, and others. Mr. Hofman also worked at the Kiel Institute of World Economics, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and NMB Bank (now ING). He studied economics in Rotterdam and Kiel. Mr. Hofman has extensive experience in advising governments around the region on a wide range of development issues, and has published on fiscal policy, decentralization and debt issues, and China’s and Indonesia’s recent economic history. His current interests include China’s future growth trajectory, technology, aging, and geopolitics and China-US relations.
