The following is a bio of a fomer employee/consultant

Klaas de Vries is a Senior Economist with The Conference Board. He closely follows developments in the global economy and researches the structural drivers of global growth and competitiveness relating to productivity and trade. He develops and maintains several large-scale growth and productivity datasets with an international focus, relating to the aggregate economy and underlying industries. These include the Total Economy Database™, the International Comparisons of Manufacturing Productivity and Unit Labor Costs dataset, and the forward looking Global Economic Outlook.

Prior to joining The Conference Board, de Vries worked at the University of Groningen, where he studied economic development and structural growth issues. He has published articles on structural transformation in emerging markets in general and on the dynamics of structural change in Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular.

De Vries holds a master’s degree in history from the University of Groningen and continues his coursework in economics.