The number of high profile instances of corruption has - justifiably - generated considerable moral outrage, particularly at a time of growing inequality. But there is also ample evidence that systemic corruption has significant economic and political costs. In his talk, Sean Hagan will discuss recent work done by the IMF to both identify these costs and put in place strategies that can effectively address this complex problem. 

Sean Hagan is Visiting Fellow at Exeter College. From 2005 through 2018, he was the IMF’s General Counsel and Director of the Legal Department. In this capacity, Mr. Hagan advised the Fund’s management, Executive Board and membership on all legal aspects of the Fund’s operations, including its regulatory, advisory and lending functions. Mr. Hagan has published extensively on both the law of the Fund and a broad range of legal issues relating to the prevention and resolution of financial crisis, with a particular emphasis on insolvency and the restructuring of debt, including sovereign debt.

Prior to beginning work at the IMF, Mr. Hagan was in private practice, first in New York and subsequently in Tokyo. Mr. Hagan received his Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center and also received a Masters of Science in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.