Massimiliano Santini is Senior Economist of World Bank. From 2008 to 2019, Massi was a senior economist at the World Bank, where he led the policy dialogue with governments to deliver lending operations and technical assistance projects that promoted attractive financial markets and vibrant business environments.

In April 2019, Massi left the World Bank to run for a seat in the European Parliament. After the campaign, he joined the European University Institute in Florence and later the University of Hong Kong’s Asia Global Institute as a fellow.

Massi started his career at Baring Asset Management in London, served in public and private international organizations in New York, and worked in the independent film industry where he produced and post-produced documentaries exposing environmental and social challenges. He is a frequent contributing opinion writer in media outlets around the world.

Massi graduated from the Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) program at Harvard Kennedy School (2008), and he holds a Bachelor degree in Economics from the University of Modena in Italy (1998). He is currently pursuing a part-time Doctor of Philosophy in Politics program at the University of Oxford.

His research as an AsiaGlobal Fellow explored the political narrative of the 2019 movement that sought to reassert and expand the distinctiveness of Hong Kong within the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Chinese state policy.