Simeon Djankov was born on July 13, 1970 in Bulgaria’s Sofia.

He attended the foreign language high school in Lovech (1984-89) and the then Karl Marx Institute of Economics (today University for National and World Economy).
He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Djankov is married to Caroline Freund, also a World Bank economist, who is considering an advisory role with the Obama administration’s economic team. They have two children.

PUBLIC SERVICE RECORD

Joined the World Bank in 1995.
In 1997 participated in a World Bank enterprise restructuring project in Georgia. Since 2004, after the Rose Revolution, he has visited Georgia frequently and worked with the government on reforming the business environment.
He is best known as the creator of the Doing Business series, the top-selling publication of the World Bank Group.

In his 13 years at the World Bank, he has worked on regional trade agreements in North Africa, enterprise restructuring and privatization in transition economies, corporate governance in East Asia, and regulatory reforms around the world.

Principal author of the World Development Report 2002.

In June 2008, established the think-tank Ideas42, a Harvard University-International Finance Corporation venture.

Djankov served as chief economist for Finance and Private Sector in the World Bank group.

He has published over 70 articles in academic journals, including in Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Economic Growth, Journal of Public Economics, and Journal of Comparative Economics.