Xavier Freixas Dargallo
Economics 2018
Curriculum Vitae
(Barcelona, aged 69) He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Toulouse and a degree in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Toulouse. He is currently Head of Department and Professor of Financial Economics and Accounting at Pompeu Fabra University. His research has focused on the banking sector, with particular emphasis on understanding the role of banks in the process of resource allocation, systemic risk, the function and efficiency of the interbank market, and banking and financial regulation.
Jury rulingThe jury for the Rei Jaume I Prize in Economics recognises Xavier Freixas as one of the world’s leading experts in financial economics, and in particular in the micro- and macroeconomics of the banking system. His seminal book *Banking Economics*, co-authored with Jean-Charles Rochet, has become the standard work in the field. The book lays the foundations for Professor Freixas’s work on systemic risk and financial regulation, which has had a major influence both in academia and in regulatory practice, particularly in the context of the financial crisis.
Professor Freixas has been one of the first and leading advocates of the study of information asymmetries in the credit market, and has highlighted the role of banks in assessing and monitoring the firms and individuals to whom they extend credit. He has studied systemic risk and financial contagion from both a theoretical and empirical perspective, with particular attention to the role of central banks as providers of liquidity and lenders of last resort.
