Shinji Takagi is Distinguished Research Professor at the Asian Growth Research Institute, Kitakyushu, Japan and Professor Emeritus of Economics at Osaka University. After obtaining his PhD in economics from the University of Rochester, he worked as an economist at the International Monetary Fund from 1983 to 1990, when he joined the economics faculty at Osaka University. He is a specialist in international monetary economics and the author or coauthor of nearly 200 publications, including Conquering the Fear of Freedom: Japanese Exchange Rate Policy since 1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015). His professional experience has spanned more than 60 countries and territories, covering Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe. Professor Takagi served as Advisor (2002–06) and Assistant Director (2013–18) at the IMF’s Independent Evaluation Office, where he managed projects to evaluate, among other things, the IMF’s engagement in the Asian, Brazilian, Argentine, and euro area crises.