Dr. Laura Kodres

Dr. Laura Kodres is the former Senior Distinguished Fellow for the Golub Center for Finance and Policy where she taught “Finance and Ethics” and “Navigating Financial Regulation in the Post Global Financial World” and contributed the Center’s goal of connecting academicians, policymakers, and practitioners regarding finance and policy.

Dr. Kodres joined MIT Sloan after a 24-year long distinguished career at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where she was division chief for the Global Financial Stability Division in the Monetary and Capital Markets Department. In that capacity she oversaw preparation of the analytical chapters of the Global Financial Stability Report and worked on a range of financial sector policy issues. Most recently, Dr. Kodres oversaw the IMF’s training in Asia and played a key role in the startup of two IMF regional capacity development centers: one in New Delhi, India and the other in Beijing, China, and an IMF online course “Financial Development and Financial Inclusion.” From these centers, plus the IMF’s Singapore Training Institute, she delivered financial training to hundreds of officials in 37 Asian countries and around the world.

Her research focuses on contagion, macro-financial linkages, methods to measure and mitigate systemic risks and the effectiveness of regulation. She previously served at the U.S. Federal Reserve Board and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and as a finance professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Her private sector experience includes jobs at First National Bank of Chicago (now JPMorgan Chase & Co.) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. She has published in the American Economic Review , the Journal of Finance and numerous other financial policy outlets. Recent blogs can be accessed on Golub Center’s website (gcfp.mit.edu) and VoxEU.org. After earning a Bachelor's degree in Economics at the University of California at Davis, Dr. Kodres received her Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University.