Twenty years ago, the Berlin Wall came down. A number of quiet revolutions in central and eastern Europe led to the demise of the centrally planned economic system and started the process of reintegrating the countries concerned into the world economy. Farsighted policy makers sensed the urgent and pre-eminent need for training in the practical analytics of policy-making in market economies to smooth the path of the transition. Thus, Austria, the IMF, and four other international organizations teamed up to address the training needs for the transitioning economies by establishing the JVI. In the following 18 years, some 25,000 participants successfully completed JVI courses, and many of these alumni have gone on to serve at the highest levels of government in their countries. JVI training is unique in combining state-of-the-art economic theory with practical case studies in a curriculum targeted specifically at the major economic policy issues in the region.

In 2007-2008, as the various facets of the current global economic crisis emerged, there was a profound effect on the JVI: suddenly there was an overwhelming demand for training in both traditional areas and in new topics on the links between Finance and conventional Macroeconomics. Demand increased (from both crisis countries and potential creditors) for training on the economics of IMF-supported adjustment programs, but there was also a surge in demand for new courses on Finance, on Macro-Finance linkages, on Assessing External Vulnerabilities, and on Monetary and Exchange Rate Policies in the context of increased financial volatility. The JVI and its stakeholders again responded swiftly to these demands on the curriculum with a slew of new or modified courses that cater to these specific needs of our client countries. The feedback on these courses has been highly positive and we have enjoyed the vigorous, engaged discussions with and among participants elicited by the new lectures and, especially, the case-study materials. All indications are that they have strengthened the abilities of participants in the formulation and implementation of policies in these very difficult times.

Beyond its role in training, the crisis has drawn on the JVI as a center for dialogue on critical economic policy issues. The JVI has been the host institution for the “Vienna Initiative”—a series of critical meetings among private and public creditors on how to cover external financing gaps in countries with IMF Standby programs. The Vienna Initiative has sought not only to find an equitable and effective balance of external funding, but also fair burden sharing between home and host countries of the costs of recapitalizing foreign subsidiaries of international banks.

Besides the huge intellectual investment in curriculum development and the increase in course delivery, the current circumstances have also required an enlargement of teaching facilities. The JVI is especially grateful to the Austrian authorities who have been generous in their financing of an expansion of the premises and an upgrading of the physical infrastructure; as a result of this support, the JVI will be able to increase its training volume by 40 percent between 2008 and 2010.

I have great pleasure in presenting our 2010 course program and look forward to welcoming you to one of the courses at the JVI.

Eduard H. Hochreiter

Director
Joint Vienna Institute