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Arnoud Boot

Arnoud Boot is professor of Corporate Finance and Financial Markets at the University of Amsterdam and fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). He is  research fellow at the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in London, and chair of the Scientific Council at the Brussels based think tank Bruegel. Professor Boot is also a member of the Financial Economists Roundtable. From 2011 through 2015 he served on the Inaugural Advisory Committee of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB). Earlier he was on the faculty of the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago, and during 2000-2001 he was a partner in the Finance and Strategy Practice at McKinsey & Co. Previously, he was chairman of the Bank Council of the Dutch Central Bank (DNB), and served as crown member of the Social Economic Council (SER) and council member of the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR). From 2016-2023, he was chairman of the European Finance Association. 

In his work Arnoud Boot focuses on the broad issue of ‘financialization of society’. In a narrow sense, how should we look at and regulate the financial sector? In a broader sense, how does the increasing emphasis on financial measures (e.g. shareholder value, price data from financial markets, often financial performance measures) affect decision making in general. Does it lead to more myopic and/or opportunistic decision making? And what implications does the current FinTech revolution have?

His book on footloose corporations De ontwortelde onderneming (2010, in Dutch), (English summary, 2009) is an example, as is his 2014 JMCB paper Financial Sector in Flux, and 2021 JFS paper, Fintech: What's Old, What's New? Market forces seem all too often to be at the root of financial instability. How can these be contained without giving up on their potential valuable disciplining role? Similar destabilizing forces seem to play an important role in the increased orientation of corporations on transactions where a short term orientation and lack of commitment may destroy value, and work potentially orthogonal to value creation in the longer run. In his advisory report to the Dutch government (WRR 2016), he applies the notion of financial dominance to Dutch society, and formulates recommendations for a stronger focus on the real economy.

In his most recent work, he builds on the notion of sunflower-capitalism, where private sector actors become too much dependent and focused on government support and initiative (i.e. turn as sunflowers to the sun - the government as ‘the sun’), basically side-stepping their own societal responsibilities (International Banker, Winter 2021; and in Dutch, ESB, July 2021). Governments should strengthen private sector incentives to take matters in their own hands, including for important transitions on climate-change related matters, and in doing so prevent capture by vested interests that would undermine renewal and productivity growth. His latest report Goede zaken. Naar een grotere maatschappelijke bijdrage van ondernemingen (WRR, 2023) for the government (in Dutch), follows this line of thought and provides a roadmap.

In his public policy work and as an independent voice in the public debate, he focuses on these destabilizing forces but also on fundamental shifts in the world economy that are linked to the information technology revolution and current geo-political shifts. Bringing economics to policy, and from an understanding of societal developments trying to shape policy, he sees as a moral obligation in these turbulent times. Arnoud Boot’s academic contributions have appeared in many leading journals including the American Economic Review, Economic Journal, The Review of Financial Studies, and the Journal of Finance.

Photo: Suzanne Blanchard

Positions and Associations

Positions and Associations

In the media

Find an overview of radio, television broadcasts and interviews.

New Available

Banks and financial markets in a digital age, 29 September 2023. 

Goede zaken, WRR Report 107 (lead author), (in Dutch), 14 September 2023

The Controversy over Proxy Voting: The Role of Fund Managers and Proxy Advisors, Financial Analysts Journal, 30 August 2023

Over de parlementaire controle op de uitvoering van overheidsbeleid, MeJudice, 21 August 2023

Extra bankbelasting kan werken, maar voorkom Italiaanse toestandenNRC Handelsblad (Opinie), 15 August 2023

De Kamer moet nu optreden om een toekomstige parlementaire enquête over de pensioenen te voorkomen, NRC Handelsblad (Opinie), 13 June 2023

Nobelprijs voor begrijpen van sleutelrol van fragiele financiële intermediairs, ESB, 19 February 2023

Door miljardensteun voor transitie blijft de bank achteroverleunen, FD, 26 January 2023

Climate risks are real and need to become part of bank capital regulation, VOX, CEPR Policy Portal - VoxEU, 7 December 2022

The Controversy over Proxy Voting, FER, November 28, 2022

Ambitieuze digitale euro nodig als publiek anker (blog), Sustainable Finance Lab, 21 November 2022

KVS Preadvies: Aandeelhouders moeten zichtbaar worden, 17 November 2022

Het woonbeleid is aan grondige renovatie toe, NRC Handelsblad, 16 June 2022

Van beleggen naar investeren in de toekomstNew Year interview (in Dutch)

Modern Capitalism and Sunflowers, International Banker, Winter 2021

Zet Invest-NL en Groeifonds om in investeringsbank, FD, 7 August 2021

De dominantie van de overheid in het economisch proces moet stoppenESB, 15 July 2021

Exit uit de coronasteun lukt alleen via het stimuleren van de productiviteitNRC, 15 June 2021

Fintech: What's Old, What's New? Journal of Financial StabilityApril 2021

Een beter Pensioenakkoord met risicodeling via premiesESB, January 2021

Stop het zonnebloemkapitalisme van de staat, NRC Handelsblad, October 1, 2020