Program 2010 - Joint Vienna Institute

2 | Message from the Director
Message from
the Director
Mission Statement
The Joint Vienna Institute
provides instruction of the
highest standard to help
countries making the transition
to full market-based economies.
Twenty years ago, the Berlin Wall came down.
A number of mostly peaceful revolutions in Central
and Eastern Europe led to the demise of the centrally
planned economic system and started the process of
reintegrating the countries concerned into the world
economy. Farsighted policymakers sensed the urgent
and preeminent need for training in the practical
analytics of policy-making in market economies
to smooth the path of the transition. Thus, Austria,
the IMF, and four other international organizations
teamed up to address the training needs for the
transitioning economies by establishing the JVI.
In the following 18 years, some 25,000 participants
successfully completed JVI courses, and many of
these alumni have gone on to serve at the highest
levels of government in their countries. JVI training
is unique in combining state-of-the-art economic
theory with practical case studies in a curriculum
targeted specifically at the major economic policy
issues in the region.
In 2007-2008, as the various facets of the current
global economic crisis emerged, there was a
profound effect on the JVI; suddenly there was
an overwhelming demand for training in both
traditional areas and in new topics on the links
between finance and conventional macroeconomics.