Work Experience

Peter Knight is an information age change agent and connector with broad international experience in distance education, electronic media, international banking, foundation work, teaching, and research; extensive high-level contacts in Africa (especially South Africa), Latin America (especially Brazil), and Eastern Europe and Asia  (especially Russia).

His work is characterized by his ability to lead change in complex environments, use of electronic media for distance learning and other development objectives; and, his understanding of macroeconomic analysis, political economy, human resource development, languages, and communications skills.

Knight established and managed the innovative Electronic Media Center in the World Bank using video, television, videoconferencing, and the Internet to disseminate the Bank’s analytical work, support lending operations, extend the reach of its external training, and promote its external relations; helped establish new World Bank grant-making facility (infoDev) and managed two of its first eight projects (distance learning in South Africa, and telecommunications policy reform in Russia); managed macroeconomic division of World Bank’s Economic Development Institute, developing new training programs in Africa, China, Vietnam, Eastern Europe, and states of the former Soviet Union; led pioneering work on poverty and basic needs and macroeconomic analysis of financial systems in Brazil.

Work History

Partner, Knight, Moore Telematics for Education and Development, Communications Development Incorporated, March 1997–present. Advise on design, implementation, and evaluation strategies and policy frameworks for integrated, multimedia educational and training systems to national and regional governments, corporations, and educational organizations.

Chief, Electronic Media Center, The World Bank, 1994–97.

Division Chief, National Economic Management Division, Economic Development Institute, The World Bank, 1988–94.

Lead Economist, Brazil Department, The World Bank, 1987–88.

Senior Division Economist, Brazil Country Programs Division, The World Bank, 1983–88.

Country Economist, Brazil Division, The World Bank, 1976–79.

Member, World Development Report Core Team, The World Bank, 1979–80.

Senior Economist, Program Review Division /Policy Planning and Program Review Department, The World Bank, 1980–82.

Senior Economist, Country Strategy and Trade Policy Division/Country Policy Department, The World Bank, 1982–83.

Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow, Program on Participation and Labor–Managed Systems, Center for International Studies, Cornell University, 1975–76.

Program Advisor in Economics and Agriculture, Office for Peru, Equador, and Bolivia, Lima, Peru, Ford Foundation, 1971–74.

Research Associate, The Brookings Institution, 1969–71. Worked in the Program of Joint Studies on Latin American Economic Integration, Foreign Policy Studies Program. 

Education and Training

Ph.D. Stanford University, 1970, Economics

MA Stanford University, 1965, Economics

BA Oxford University, 1964, Politics, Philosophy, and  Economics

AB Dartmouth College, 1962, Government

Publications and Video

Sole, principal, or contributing author of 11 published World Bank studies (two in book form in Portugal and Brazil) on such topics as fiscal federalism and macroeconomic management in large countries, 1994; a macroeconomic analysis of Brazil's Cruzado Plan, 1987; a review of Brazil's financial systems, 1984;  economic reform in socialist countries, 1983; poverty and basic needs in Brazil, 1981; and the World Development Report, 1980. Wrote books on new forms of economic organization in Peru, 1975; and Brazilian agricultural technology and trade, 1971; plus over 30 published articles, book chapters, and numerous unpublished reports and papers.

Executive producer for 12 videos and TV programs dealing with telematics, distance learning, and sustainable development and Internet development in Africa.

Selected Publications of Relevance

Knight, Peter T. 1997. “The Half–Life of Knowledge and Structural Reform of the Education Sector for the Global Knowledge–Based Economy.” Paper prepared for the Forum on Education in the Information Age. Cartagena, Colombia, 9–11 July 1997.

____. 1996. “Destined to Leapfrog: Why a Revolution in Learning Will Occur in Brazil, Russia, and South Africa.” Paper presented at the Second International Conference on Distance Education. Russia, Moscow, 2–5 July 1996.

____. 1994. “Education For All Through Electronic Distance Education.” Paper prepared for the First International Conference on Distance Education in Russia, Moscow, 5–8 July 1994. Revised.

____. 1994. “Network Infrastructure Development and Defense Industry Conversion Satellite Towns: Using and Building an Electronic Distance Education System for Russia with Connections to the Worldwide Information Society.” Paper prepared for the International Conference on Distance Education in Russia, Moscow, 5–8 July 1994.

____. 1994. “Networking in Support of Training for Market–Oriented Development in Russia and other States of the FSU.” Paper prepared for the NATO Advanced Workshop on Networking in the NIS: Establishing a Cooperative Framework for Networking in Russia and Other NATO Partners, Teaching Center "Golitsyno", Moscow Oblast, Russia, 29 September–1 October 1994.

____. 1995. “The Telematics Revolution in Africa and the World Bank Group.” Paper presented at AFRISTECH'95, Dakar, Senegal, December 1995.

____. 1996. “Using Distance Learning to Facilitate the Transformation of the Regulatory, Business, and Social Environment in Russia.” Paper presented at the Second International Conference on Distance Education in Russia, 2–5 July 1996.

Languages: fluent in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish; good command of Russian.