Luc Laeven (born June 22, 1974 in Klimmen) is a Dutch economist, Director-General of the Research Department of the European Central Bank 2015–present. Previously he held senior posts at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. He was also a Professor Finance at Tilburg University from 2009 to 2019. He has been a Research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London since 2009. Early life and education Laeven studied econometrics at Tilburg University from 1992 to 1996. He then completed his Master in International Finance at the University of Amsterdam in 1997. He studied at the London School of Economics from 1998 to 1999 and completed his PhD in economics at the University of Amsterdam in 2001. Career After having completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in econometrics and international finance in 1997, Laeven worked for a year as a management trainee in the Amsterdam and London offices of ABN Amro Bank. He then went on to study at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the MPhil in Finance program, before finishing his PhD in economics at the University of Amsterdam in 2001, with a dissertation Essays on Financial Intermediation in Developing Countries written under the supervision of professor Sweder van Wijnbergen. He joined the World Bank the same year as a financial economist in its Private Sector and Financial Sector Vice Presidency, contributing to research and policy advice on financial sector issues in developing countries. He was then brought in by Raghuram Rajan, the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, to help build a macro-financial linkages unit in the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund, first as senior economist and then as deputy division chief. After this, he became the lead economist of the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund, working closely with its chief economist Olivier Blanchard, and led mission work to member countries, the production of Board papers and discussion notes, and country review work. Following this career at the International Monetary Fund, Laeven became the Director-General of the Directorate General Research of the European Central Bank in 2015, where he leads a department of about 65 staff in its two areas of responsibility: research and policy advice. The department conducts economic research and provides research-based policy advice to the EUropean Central Bank's decision-making bodies on issues relevant to the conduct of monetary policy, central bank operations,