Vesa Vihriälä to assume position as managing director of both Research Institute of the Finnish Economy ETLA and Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA

Previous managing director Sixten Korkman retiring at 64

Vesa Vihriälä

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Sixten Korkman, managing director of both the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy ETLA and the Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA, is retiring.
      His successor will be Vesa Vihriälä, a long-term background player in the economic sector and an advisor to Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs.
      Vihriälä will commence his term at the beginning of March. His present contract with the Rehn Cabinet will end in February.
      Matti Apunen will continue as EVA’s director.
      Vihriälä states that the post was offered to him at an opportune moment and that he is familiar with the research work conducted and enjoys it. Also, ETLA has fairly sizeable machinery for such work, which is an added perk.
      Previously Vihriälä has been involved in research in the capacity of the managing director of Pellervo Economic Research, PTT.
      “For some time now my work has had to do with political decision-making. This job provides me with a different perspective on the economic policy debate and is therefore interesting”, Vihriälä says.
      Vihriälä refuses to specify what he might lay stress on in his new role.
     
Sixten Korkman, who will be turning 64 in February, states his age and private family matters are the reasons behind his retirement.
      “ETLA will benefit from getting a younger, more dynamic, and more innovative leader.”
      Still, Korkman does not plan to withdraw completely from public duties.
      Work in a three-strong expert group of a research and innovation council will keep him busy this spring.
     
Korkman hopes that both ETLA and EVA will assume a strong role as catalysts of public debate.
      In his view, in Finland the level of economic policy analysis based on research continues to be weak compared with that in other Nordic Countries.
      “In recent years the atmosphere has improved”, Korkman says, “But a lot still needs to be done. Finland is not a model country for rational social policies.”


Links:
  Research Institute of the Finnish Economy, ETLA
  Finnish Business and Policy Forum, EVA

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