Boulder Institute of Microfinance

Claudio Gonzalez-Vega has been Professor of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics and Professor of Economics at The Ohio State University (OSU) since 1982. He is currently Director of the Rural Finance Program, a center of excellence in finance and development. With his colleagues at OSU, he received the "Distinguished Policy Contribution" award from the American Agricultural Economics Association in 1989.

Two decades of association with OSU as professor, researcher, and consultant have resulted in theoretical contributions and policy recommendations that have established him as one of the world leaders in the field.

He has conducted research on rural financial markets, financial reform, and microenterprise finance in several countries. His research focuses on:

1. The role of formal and informal finance in reaching marginal clienteles, such as microenterprises and small farmers
2. The political economy of policy formation and the role of the state in financial markets especially in connection with market segments that will not expand rapidly enough on their own, and
3. The optimum design of prudential regulation and supervision, particularly in the case of non-bank intermediaries (credit unions, NGOs, state-owned development banks).

Before coming to OSU, Gonzalez-Vega was Dean of Economic Sciences at the University of Costa Rica (1978-82), where he was also Dean at the Universidad Autónoma de Centroamérica and founder of the highly reputed research institute Academia de Centroamérica. He has taught at several universities and training centers and has published extensively in the areas of finance and development, rural financial markets, microenterprises, macroeconomic management and commercial policy in developing countries.

Gonzalez-Vega has been a consultant for many international agencies and governments in over two dozen countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. He was a member of USAID's Advisory Committee on Microenterprise Development (1989-91) and of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Matters of the Organization of American States (1978-81).

He chaired the Technical Committee of the Cooperative Research Support Program on Broadening Access and Strengthening Input Market Systems (BASIS). http://www-agecon.ag.ohio-state.edu/people/display2.php?user=gonzalez.4