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 Wheaton College President Duane Litfin and the members of the College’s Board of Trustees are pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Javier Comboni as the first Jean and E. Floyd Kvamme Professor of Political Economy and Director of the J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government and Public Policy.
The Hastert Center and the Kvamme Professorship were established to contribute to an on-going societal conversation about the interplay of economics, public policy, and Christian faith, and to advance the values that have informed the governmental service of Speaker Hastert. “Javier Comboni brings to his new position a rare combination of vibrant Evangelical Christian faith, outstanding academic credentials as an economist, and substantial professional involvement in governmental leadership and policy-making. Further, at a time when the US economy if ever more globalized, he brings an international perspective to the leadership of the Hastert Center that will help us in our focus both on international and domestic issues,” says Provost Stan Jones.
After college and a number of years managing a family business in Bolivia, Comboni completed a masters degree in Political Economy and his doctorate in Economics at Boston University. His doctoral curriculum focused on financial and credit markets, and his dissertation analyzed the effects of sovereign debt default on foreign capital flow in Latin America. He returned to his native Bolivia in 1991 where he began a career of service in government, starting as an economic researcher. Comboni eventually assumed the role of Chief Economist of the Central Bank of Bolivia and later was Chief Economist of a monetary multilateral fund in Latin America. In 2002 he was appointed as the Bolivian Minister of Finance under the direct supervision of the President of Bolivia, in which role he provided leadership on the design of economic policy and submitted and obtained congressional approval for a new tax code, a new bankruptcy procedure, and other legislation. Since leaving governmental service, he has worked in a number of roles in the areas of international economic development and debt restructuring and relief.
Throughout his career, Professor Comboni has remained active in teaching and publishing in his field. He served as Professor of Economics at the Catholic University of Bolivia. Much of his academic work is of direct relevance to his leadership role at the Hastert Center at Wheaton College. He has studied the impact of economic policy on sustainable development in Bolivia and throughout Latin America. He has also focused on the influence of long term macroeconomic trends on employment and growth. His consultancies and collaborations span the globe; he brings to his role an immense network of relationships in the American and international economic community.
Dr. Comboni has been an active Protestant lay leader in the Church in Bolivia throughout his adult life. His faith has grounded his personal integrity, contributing to his reputation as a person of unimpeachable character. He has written that his calling as an economist is that of being a “public servant with a vision to serve God, the owner of all resources.” His Christian convictions ground his concern for sustainable development and the alleviation of poverty, and inform his conviction that the best answers are “not to return to liberation theology,” but rather to support democracy and the free market to bring relief to the pressing needs of all peoples.
“Javier Comboni is a person who is at once passionate about the beneficial role that free markets and free enterprise can play in advancing human well-being, and also passionate about the importance of international debt relief and global trade policy in fostering economic growth internationally,” says Jones.
Wheaton College (Wheaton, Ill.) is a coeducational Christian liberal arts college noted for its rigorous academics, integration of faith and learning, and consistent ranking among the top liberal arts colleges in the country.
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