Biography
About Hossein Askari
Hossein Askari was born in Iran. He received his elementary and high school education in England. He earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering, attended the Sloan School of Management and received his Ph.D. in Economics, all at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was an instructor at MIT, Assistant Professor of Economics at Tufts University, Associate Professor of Economics at Wayne State University, Associate Professor and Professor of International Business and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and came to GW in 1982, where he served as Chairman of the International Business Department and as Director of the Institute of Global Management and Research and where he is now the Iran Professor of International Business and Professor of International Affairs.
He served for two and a half years on the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund and was Special Advisor to the Minister of Finance of Saudi Arabia; in this capacity he frequently spoke for Saudi Arabia at the Board, he developed the idea for a special Quota increase for Saudi Arabia and helped implement it giving Saudi Arabia an effective permanent seat on the Board, and he assisted in the negotiations of a $10 billion loan to the IMF. During the mid-1980s he directed an international team that developed a comprehensive domestic, regional and international plan for Saudi Arabia. During 1990-1991 he was asked by the governments of Iran and Saudi Arabia to act as an intermediary to restore diplomatic relations; and in 1992 he was asked by the Government of Kuwait to mediate with Iran.
Hossein Askari has written extensively on economic development in the Middle East, Islamic economics and finance, international trade and finance, agricultural economics, oil economics and on economic sanctions. He has written opinion pieces in the NYT, WP, LAT, IHT, Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Tribune, US New and World Report, Foreign Policy, the National Interest Online, Asia Times Online and in other newspapers and websites. He has advised ministers of finance, heads of central banks, oil ministers and other officials in the Persian Gulf on economic development policy, oil policy, and on international trade and finance. He has been a consultant to a number of institutions and corporations, including: the OECD, the World Bank, the IFC, the APDF, the IFU, the United Nations, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Ministry of Finance of Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Planning of Saudi Arabia, the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, the Overseas Private Insurance Corporation (OPIC), the US General Accounting Office (GAO), Bechtel, First National Bank of Chicago, Eastman (Kodak) Chemical, Litton Industries, Hydril Company, Northwest Industries, Sunoco and ARCO International.