Jose Antonio Ocampo

Co-Director of the Economic and Political Development Concentration at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs

José Antonio Ocampo is Co-Director of the Economic and Political Development Concentration at the School of International and Public Affairs, a member of the Committee on Global Thought, and of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University. He is also a member and former Chair of the Committee for Development Policy, an expert panel of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Additionally, he served as Chair of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT) from 2015 to 2022 and remains a current member.

Prior to his appointment and during his leave of absence for public service while at Columbia University, Ocampo held various positions in the United Nations and the Government of Colombia. Notably, he served as United Nations Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Minister of Finance and Public Credit on two occasions, Chairman and board member of Banco del República (Colombia’s Central Bank), Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Director of the National Planning Department (Minister of Planning), and Executive Director of Fedesarrollo.

He has participated in various commissions and supported international organizations, including serving as a Member of the Advisory Council of the Colombian Truth Commission from 2018 to 2022. He was also a Member of the High-Level UN Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency, and Integrity for the 2030 Agenda from 2020 to 2021. Additionally, he served as a Goodwill Ambassador for Social Protection at the International Labor Organization between 2015 and 2017. He chaired Colombia’s Rural Development Commission in 2014-2015 and led the panel created by the IMF Board to review the activities of its Independent Evaluation Office during 2012-2013. From 2008 to 2010, he Codirected the UNDP/OAS Project on “Agenda for a Citizens’ Democracy in Latin America,” and in 2008, he was a member of the UN General Assembly’s Commission of Experts on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System.

Ocampo has written extensively on macroeconomic theory and policy, international financial matters, economic and social development, international trade, and the economic history of Colombia and Latin America.

Ocampo earned his BA in economics and sociology from the University of Notre Dame in 1972, followed by a PhD in economics from Yale University in 1976. He has taught as a Professor of Economics at Universidad de los Andes, the National University of Colombia, and Universidad Javeriana. Additionally, he has been a Visiting Fellow at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Rice, São Paulo, and Yale. Throughout his career, he has received numerous honors, including the 2012 Jaume Vicens Vives Prize from the Spanish Association of Economic History for the best book on Spanish or Latin American economic history, the 2008 Leontief Prize for advancing economic thought, and the 1988 Alejandro Angel Escobar National Science Award of Colombia.