Stavros Zenios
Stavros Zenios is a Non-resident Fellow at Bruegel. He specialises in sovereign debt issues, especially in relation to the challenges posed by climate change and political risks.
His research concerns the development of stochastic dynamic models for debt sustainability analysis and risk management for sovereigns, on sovereign contingent debt and on the asset pricing effects of political risks.
He speaks English and Greek.
He is a Professor of Operations Management and Finance at Durham University, on leave from the University of Cyprus, where he has been a Professor of Finance and Management Science since 1991. He is a Member of Academia Europaea and of the Cyprus Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts. Prior to that, he was a tenured faculty member at the Wharton School, United States, and held visiting positions at MIT, the University of Vienna, the Norwegian High School of Economics and the University of Haifa. He served as Vice chairman of the Cyprus Council of Economic Advisors and on the Board of the Central Bank of Cyprus. He served two terms as President of UNICA-Universities of European Capitals and two terms as Rector of the University of Cyprus. Stavros holds a PhD in Engineering Management Systems from Princeton University.
Disclosure of interests
Featured work
How important is political risk for investors and policy makers?
Are sovereign debts sustainable under energy transition?
The growing impact of political risk on financial markets
Risk associated with broad political changes can be quantified with a globally priced factor common across stocks, bonds and currencies
How much of a threat to US debt sustainability is Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act?
The US should start fiscal adjustment as soon as it can if it wants to head off the risk of exploding debt related to Trump’s tax and spending plan
Disaster risk in euro-area bond markets
What investment funds tell us about euro-zone fragility
Debt sustainability analysis with conventional and unconventional monetary policy
Sovereigns on thinning ice: debt sustainability, climate impacts and adaptation
Climate change could trigger debt crises, with adaptation providing only partial relief
Climate change is likely to significantly undermine sovereign debt sustainability, especially from the mid-2040s
Hedging political risk in international portfolios
Financial education and spillover effects
Do green bonds provide diversification benefits? The need for tax incentives
Are bad governments a threat to sovereign defaults? The effects of political risk on debt sustainability
In this paper, we ask whether the level of political risk in a country threatens its debt sustainability
Incorporating political risk into analysis of sovereign debt sustainability
Political risk is not taken into account when assessing whether countries can manage their debts, but it could be and should be
Memo to the commissioner responsible for economic and financial affairs
Climate change, the next big financial threat
A warming planet poses new risks to European sovereign debt. How can the continent protect itself?
The longer-term fiscal challenges facing the European Union
Since 2020, the European Union has suffered two large shocks, which have created new fiscal challenges for the EU.
The ripple effect of financial education
A financial literacy course for university students in Cyprus also improved the financial knowledge of their parents.
How effective has the pandemic emergency purchase programme been in ensuring debt sustainability?
The ECB’s pandemic emergency purchase programme has improved substantially the debt dynamics of euro-area countries, with durable effects.
The risks from climate change to sovereign debt in Europe
European Union institutions and national fiscal authorities should incorporate climate risk in debt sustainability analysis.
Growth uncertainty, European Central Bank intervention and the Italian debt
European Central Bank intervention provides a buffer against the uncertainty faced by European Union economies in the face of COVID-19. For the time b
All work
Newsletter
11 May 2026
Analysis
28 April 2026
The growing impact of political risk on financial markets
Risk associated with broad political changes can be quantified with a globally priced factor common across stocks, bonds and currencies
External publication
01 May 2026
Analysis
22 September 2025
How much of a threat to US debt sustainability is Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act?
The US should start fiscal adjustment as soon as it can if it wants to head off the risk of exploding debt related to Trump’s tax and spending plan
Podcast
20 August 2025
Disaster risk in euro-area bond markets
What investment funds tell us about euro-zone fragility
External publication
05 August 2025
Working paper
19 May 2025
Analysis
16 April 2025
Climate change could trigger debt crises, with adaptation providing only partial relief
Climate change is likely to significantly undermine sovereign debt sustainability, especially from the mid-2040s
External publication
16 April 2025
External publication
20 March 2025