Danish citizen, born at the end of 1944 in Odense. Study of Political Science (1963 to 1969) at the University of Århus, Denmark, leading to a master’s degree. Thesis on the Value Problem in the Social Sciences in 1968, going into the debate between the Karl Popper side and the Frankfurt School (Theodor W. Adorno and Jürgen Habermas first of all).  Two years study of Philosophy in Frankfurt/M (1969-71), concentrating on Political Economy, Karl Marx’s oeuvre. Continued studies for one more year in Århus. In 1972 appointed Assistant Professor at the new Roskilde University Center.

 

Commenced the study of Economics at Stony Brook, State University of New York, in 1974, graduating with a Ph.D. at the end of 1979. The thesis entitled An Asset Market Model of Exchange Rate Determination: Capital Market - Exchange Rate Interactions took its point of departure in the Tobin theory of ‘q’, the deviation of the price of assets from the reproduction costs of investment goods, and linked it to the foreign exchange markets. Preparatory work included extensive studies of monetary history, not least after the Second World War. (The thesis is available in electronic format).

 

1979-82 Junior Professional Officer at the United Nations Development Programme, Nairobi, Kenya. Acquired some understanding of Anglophone Africa and the UN system in addition to getting a feel for ‘development’ in practice. Languages: improving French and starting to learn Spanish.

 

1982-85: Economic Adviser to the Delegation of the Commission of the European Communities in Brazzaville, Congo, involving acquaintance with Francophone Africa and the European Commission.

 

Joined the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DC in 1986 as first Operations Officer and then Country Coordinator, working with Caribbean countries, primarily Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago. The position also involved close contact with the World Bank and IMF. - Passed university courses in practical micro-economics (Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies), finance (American University MBA programme) and Russian (George Washington University).

 

Returned to Denmark in 1993 and started as Chief Consultant in Carl Bro International, working in all the three development continents in addition to Eastern Europe (1993-95 plus Ukraine in 2007). Independent consultant and director of own firm, Radi-Consult, as of May 2005.

 

 

Countries worked in:

 

Armenia, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), Costa Rica, Denmark, Fiji, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Guatemala, Haiti, Hungary, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Paraguay, Russia, South Africa, Suriname, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda, Ukraine, USA, Vietnam and Zimbabwe (countries of more sustained connection are emphasized in bold).

 

Fields of specialization: energy economics and finance, public sector finances and private sector development.  Donor agencies worked for: Danida, IDB, EU, the World Bank, Sida.

 

Of particular interest for the book project are two ‘negotiation assistance’ projects in Ghana for (i) the renewal of Valco’s power contract (Valco is the aluminium smelter in Ghana that was owned by Kaiser and Alcoa, now by the Government of Ghana and Alcoa) and (ii) the West African Gas Pipeline that is set to bring natural gas from Nigeria to the Takoradi power plant in Ghana. In both cases the team advised the Ghana government side. 

 

Other activities, interests and range

 

§    Candidate for Parliament for the Danish party, Det Radikale Venstre (social-liberal party) in 1966 and since then intermittently active in various political

    causes at the left side of the political spectrum; currently chairperson of Fund for Christiania and member of the board of the Bank of International Art

    Money;

§    Writing and commenting on political economy and developments in the Third World, e.g. “The Dynamics of Poverty,” in Verden i Forandring (Changing

    World), Odense Universitetsforlag, November 2000;

§    Summer school course in co-integration, a branch of Econometrics, in August 2006;

§    Fact-finding tour to Shanghai in December 2006 to get a first-hand impression of modern China.

 

Languages: English (bilingual level), French, Spanish, German, some Russian besides Danish (with Swedish and Norwegian as close brethren).

 

Book project

 

The book project is an attempt at digging down under the economic understanding of current capitalism and how mainstream economics systematically fails to grasp its logic. The book works through the surface cracks of the often-diagnosed ills of the world today to the underlying theoretical assumptions. Reverting to the categories of classical economics, it updates them in today’s context. Among others it tries to explain, within its own nexus of understanding, the Marxian ‘problems’ of (a)  the replacement of gold by a non-commodity currency as world money  and (b) the falling profit rate, which seems to be invalidated in today’s capital and corporate markets.

 

The book contains 15 chapters and is about 90% finished (November 2007). Summary can be obtained upon request.