Jüri Sepp

Jüri Sepp (born 9 September 1952) is an Estonian economist and academic. He is professor emeritus at the University of Tartu, where he taught for several decades and served as professor of economic policy from 1994 to 2020. He was dean of the university's Faculty of Economics from 1996 to 2005 and a member of the supervisory board of the Bank of Estonia from 1998 to 2008.

Early life and education

Sepp was born in Tallinn on 9 September 1952. He graduated from Tallinn 42nd Secondary School in 1970 and from the University of Tartu in 1975, specializing in economic cybernetics. From 1977 to 1981 he undertook postgraduate study at Tartu State University. In 1982, he defended a Candidate of Sciences dissertation at the Institute of Economics of the Estonian Academy of Sciences under the supervision of Uno Mereste; the dissertation was titled Jaekäibe aastasisesed kõikumised kaubandusorganisatsioonides.

Career

Sepp joined the University of Tartu in 1975 as a researcher in the Faculty of Economics. He became a senior lecturer in 1980, an associate professor in 1984, and professor of economic policy in 1994. He remained in that chair until 2020, when he became professor emeritus; the University of Tartu currently lists him in the School of Economics and Business Administration, Chair of Public Economics and Policy. He was also head of the chair of economic policy.

Outside the university, Sepp served as deputy minister in Estonia's Ministry of Trade from 1990 to 1992. He was dean of the University of Tartu's Faculty of Economics from 1996 to 2005 and a member of the university council from 1994 to 2021. He served on the supervisory board of the Bank of Estonia from 1998 to 2008, having been appointed to both its fourth and fifth compositions by the Riigikogu.

Sepp was among the figures involved in the re-establishment of the Estonian Economic Association as an independent legal body in 2003; at the founding meeting held in 2002 he was elected president of its three-member board.

Research and public activity

Sepp's academic work has centered on economic policy, institutional economics, competition policy and industrial policy. The University of Tartu has listed among his later research interests economic policy, the use of European Union structural funds for sustainable development, barriers to starting businesses, and social outcome accounting. His publications include work on industrial policy, consumer sovereignty, and the adaptation of Estonian competition policy during accession to the European Union.

In public-policy work, Sepp was the editor of the economy chapter of the Estonian Human Development Report 2012/2013, subtitled Estonia in the World.

Honors

Sepp was awarded the Order of the White Star, IV class, in 2008. He has also received the University of Tartu Grand Medal (2005), the University of Tartu Medal (2012), the University of Tartu Badge of Distinction (2015), and the decoration 100 Semesters at the University of Tartu (2020). The Estonian Academy of Sciences has listed him as an honorary member of the Estonian Economic Association.

Selected works

• Tööstuspoliitika teooria ja rahvusvaheline praktika (2004).
• With Ralph Michael Wrobel, "Consumer Sovereignty versus Consumer Protection in Transition Countries" (2001).
• With Diana Eerma, Developments of the Estonian Competition Policy in the Framework of Accession to the European Union (2006).
• Co-editor, with Raigo Ernits, of Majandusarengu institutsionaalsed tegurid (2006).