Vito Tanzi

This person is no longer with the Carnegie Endowment.

Vito Tanzi was a senior associate in the Economic Reform Project. An economist of international renown, Mr. Tanzi has had a distinguished career at the International Monetary Fund, where he has served for almost three decades. At the Endowment, he is examining the changing role of the state in globalization and the role of international financial institutions.

Mr. Tanzi has served as director of the fiscal affairs department at the IMF since 1981. In that post, he has worked with fiscal authorities worldwide on issues ranging from tax policy to corruption and money laundering. He started at the IMF in 1974 as chief of the tax policy division. From 1990 to 1994, he also served as president of the International Institute of Public Finance.

Before joining the IMF, Mr. Tanzi was professor and chairman of the department of economics at American University. He has also been on the faculty of the George Washington University and a consultant for the World Bank, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the Stanford Research Institute. Mr. Tanzi received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and has received honorary degrees from the National University of Córdoba (Argentina) and the University of Liège (Belgium).

He is a prolific writer and has published widely on fiscal policy and other economic issues in books and journals. He is known for his research on Latin American economies and the so-called Tanzi effect, whereby real tax proceeds are eroded during periods of high inflation. His most recent publications include Public Spending in the 20th Century: A Global Perspective; Policies, Institutions, and the Dark Side of Economics; and Taxation in an Integrating World.