Steve H. Hanke is a professor of applied economics and founder and co-director of the Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Hanke is a distinguished senior scholar at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, a senior fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California, a senior adviser at the Renmin University of China’s International Monetary Research Institute in Beijing, and a special counselor at the Center for Financial Stability in New York. Hanke is also a contributing editor at the International Economy, a contributing editor at Central Banking in London, a contributor at National Review, and a contributor at Fortune magazine. In addition, Hanke is a member of the Charter Council of the Society for Economic Measurement. Currently, he is ranked as the world’s No. 3rd most influential economist by Focus Economics in Barcelona, Spain.
In the past, Hanke taught economics at the Colorado School of Mines and at the University of California, Berkeley. He served as a member of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers in Maryland from 1976 to 1977, as a senior economist on President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers in 1981–82, and as a senior adviser to the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress in 1984–88. Hanke served as a state counselor to both the Republic of Lithuania in 1994–96 and the Republic of Montenegro in 1999–2003. He was also an adviser to the presidents of Bulgaria from 1997 to 2002, Venezuela in 1995–96, and Indonesia in 1998. He played an important role in establishing new currency regimes in Argentina, Estonia, Bulgaria, Bosnia‐Herzegovina, Ecuador, Lithuania, and Montenegro. Hanke has also held senior appointments in the governments of many other countries, including Albania, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates, and Yugoslavia.
Hanke has been awarded honorary doctorate degrees by the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (2003), the Free University of Tbilisi (2010), Istanbul Kültür University (2012), the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (2013), Varna Free University (2015), the Universität Liechtenstein (2017), the D.A. Tsenov Academy of Economics (2018), and the Universidad Nacional del Este (2024) in recognition of his scholarship on exchange‐rate regimes. He is a distinguished associate of the International Atlantic Economic Society, a distinguished professor at the Universitas Pelita Harapan in Jakarta, Indonesia, a professor asociado at the Universidad del Azuay in Cuenca, Ecuador, a profesor visitante at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas, the Gottfried von Haberler Professor at the European Center of Austrian Economics Foundation in Liechtenstein, and professor honoris causa at Kolegji AAB in Pristina, Kosovo. In 1998, he was named one of the 25 most influential people in the world by World Trade Magazine. In 2020, Hanke was named a Knight of the Order of the Flag.
Hanke is a well‐known currency and commodity trader. Currently, he serves as a senior advisor at AMG Critical Materials NV in Amsterdam. He also serves as chairman emeritus of the Friedberg Mercantile Group Inc. in Toronto. During the 1990s, he served as president of Toronto Trust Argentina in Buenos Aires, the world’s best‐performing emerging market mutual fund in 1995.
Hanke’s most recent books are “Public Debt Sustainability: International Perspectives” (Lexington, 2022) with Barry Poulson and John Merrifield; “Did lockdowns work? The verdict on Covid Restrictions” (IEA, 2023) with Jonas Herby and Lars Jonung; “Capital, Interest, and Waiting: Controversies, Puzzles, and New Additions to Capital Theory” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024) with Leland Yeager; and Making “Money Work: How to Rewrite the Rules of our Financial System” (Wiley, 2025) with Matt Sekerke.
Hanke received his B.S. in Business Administration (1964) and his Ph.D. in Economics (1969), both from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Hanke and his wife, Liliane, reside in Baltimore and Paris