Keynote Speaker Yanis Varoufakis

Basic information about Yanis Varoufakis

Former Minister of Finance Greece, professor, author, and speaker.

Talking Topics – Yanis Varoufakis’ areas of expertise are the following:

The European crisis in a global context

The future of the European Monetary Union

Digitization of the financial and foreign exchange markets

Anatomy of Economic Liberalism

Yanis Varoufakis’ career

Greek-Australian economist Yanis Varoufakis was Greece’s Finance Minister in 2015. He is a professor of economic theory at the University of Athens and author of The Global Minotaur.

Studies

Since 1978, Yanis studied Economics at the University of Essex and also Mathematical Statistics at the University of Birmingham. He has a master’s degree in mathematical statistics and a doctorate in economics. He has lectured economics and econometrics at the University of Essex and the University of East Anglia. He spent one year at Cambridge University in 1988.

In 1989, he lectured economics at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Sydney, and the next year Yanis became a professor of economic theory at the University of Athens.

Advisor and Economist

Varoufakis was George Papandreou’s economic advisor from 2004 to 2006.

In March 2012, Varoufakis worked as an economist at Valve Corporation. He examined the virtual economy on the Steam digital platform, especially in terms of exchange rates and trade deficits.

Professor

Since the beginning of 2013, he worked as a visiting professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin.

Finance Minister

On 25 January 2015, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras elected Varoufakis the Minister of Finance by following Syriza’s victory in the 2015 parliamentary elections. However, on 6 July 2015, Yanis Varoufakis resigned as Finance Minister.

The time for development: the future of the European Monetary Union

Varoufakis wrote numerous books on game theory. He is also an acclaimed speaker and frequently performs as an analyst in the national media. His knowledge is remarkable, and his opinion is sometimes controversial, but always suggestive and honest.

Yanis Varoufakis’ awards and honors

Varoufakis was awarded the title of Honorary Professor of Finance and Comparative Law Economics by the International University College of Turin in January 2015.  The University recognized his outstanding theoretical contribution to the knowledge of the global economic crisis.

Yanis Varoufakis’ publications and articles

Why people who say unemployment is a choice are wrong