Dr Stephen Paduano is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University. He is also an economist at the Finance for Development Lab. He was previously a Senior Policy Advisor at the US Treasury and a consultant at the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

His research covers international finance and development, with a focus on the operations of the IMF and World Bank. He previously taught courses in international economics, international political economy, and development at the London School of Economics and Sciences Po. His doctoral research analysed the relationship between Chinese foreign-exchange reserve management and overseas lending.

His work has been published in The Atlantic, The Economist, Foreign Policy, The Financial Times, The Washington Post, Le Monde, El Pais, and others. He served on the Economic Policy Advisory Committee of the Biden for President 2020 campaign, as the Executive Director of the LSE Global Economic Governance Commission, and as the Research Director of the LSE Economic Diplomacy Commission.

He received his PhD and MSc with Distinction from the London School of Economics, and a BA with Honours from Stanford University.