IT CONTINUES Israeli MIT Grad Likely to Head Brazil's Central Bank

Ilan Goldfajn

The remarkable number of Massachusetts Institute of Technology connected economists heading central banks appears set to expand once again.

Haifa, Israel-born Ilan Goldfajn, formerly director of economic policy for the Central Bank of Brazil, is said to be the front-runner to replace outgoing bank chief Alexandre Tombini, reports Israel Hayom. Brazil's interim President Michel Temer is likely to make a decision by June 8.

Goldfajn earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, and his doctorate from MIT .

Ben Bernanke, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank is an MIT grad.

Current European Central Bank president Mario Drgahi is an MIT grad.

Stanley Fischer, who was the head of the central bank of Israel and who is the current vice-chairman of the Federal Reserve, studied at the London School of Economics and obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in economics from 1962–1966. Fischer then moved to the United States to study at MIT and earned a Ph.D. in economics in 1969.

He was a professor at the MIT Department of Economics from 1977 to 1988.

While at MIT, he was also Ben Bernanke's and Mario Draghi's Ph.D. thesis advisor.

For even more connections see: The MIT-Central Bank Connection