Dr John Simon is Head of Economic Research Department at the Reserve Bank of Australia.  In this role he has positioned the Research Department as thought leaders within the Bank who promote a culture of intelligent enquiry and analytical excellence throughout the Bank.  Prior to this he undertook a three-year secondment to the International Monetary Fund, where he led major analytical projects published in the IMF’s flagship publication, the World Economic Outlook.  This included work on monetary policy (“The Dog That Didn’t Bark: Has Inflation Been Muzzled or Was It Just Sleeping?), fiscal policy (“The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: 100 Years of Dealing with Public Debt Overhangs”) and capital flow management (“The Yin and Yang of Capital Flow Management”).  He was previously the Chief Manager in the Payments Policy Department of the Bank where he was involved in the design of regulatory frameworks for the credit card, debit card and ATM systems in Australia.  He has published numerous articles on macroeconomics, including on the ‘Great Moderation’, monetary policy and payments policy.  Dr Simon holds a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where his Thesis Supervisor was Olivier Blanchard.