George Magnus

Economics

Demographics

Future Trends

 

By this Author

George Magnus is the Senior Economic Adviser at UBS Investment Bank, one of the world’s leading financial services institutions, having previously been the Chief Economist for 10 years. In almost 30 years of working experience in the City, he has held senior positions at SG Warburg, Chase Manhattan Bank and Bank of America. He is a well-known and highly regarded economist in the financial community and has won many accolades in professional surveys as one of the top global economists.

George has extensive experience of writing on, explaining and speaking about a wide range of topics related to developments in and prospects for the global economy. While his main audience comprises asset management firms, hedge funds and central banks around the world, he also interacts with industrial and commercial companies, family offices and other bodies in the economic and social forum, consultancy and military sectors. His speaking style coupled with an incisive understanding and enlightened capacity to explain and discuss global issues has contributed to his high popularity and reputation.

He has been a regular contributor and discussant on economic and political issues in the media, regularly appearing on Bloomberg Television and CNBC as well as on terrestrial stations and being widely cited in the financial press around the world. His opinion columns on various issues can be found from time to time in the Financial Times. He co-authored The International Debt Game (1986) and is currently contracted to write a book on demographic change, which will consider how the world is changing and will evolve as societies age. As such, he plans to fill the vital space between academic tracts and personal pensions advice.

George follows and analyses contemporary and prospective economic developments in both advanced economies and emerging markets, often with the specific purpose of guiding the decision making of investment professionals and corporate financial officers. But his interest in bringing together economic and political issues differentiates and adds to his insights, which make his current interests particularly relevant. These include a number of issues of great and continuing relevance to Western societies including demographic change, the shifting patterns of globalisation as US political influence declines and the re-emergence of a pan-Asian economic and power bloc in the world that extends beyond China and India. One of the main strands is the rebirth of the old Silk Road as important economic and political links are forged between Eastern and central Asia on the one hand and the Middle East on the other.

George was educated at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where he obtained a Masters’ degree in economics and then went on to research and teaching positions at the University of Illinois before commencing his career in the City.