Dr. Jaana Remes was a nonresident senior fellow with the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s Foresight, Strategy, and Risks Initiative. She was also an economist and a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), McKinsey & Company’s business and economics research arm, based in San Francisco.

Since 2003, Jaana led MGI’s research on productivity, urbanization, competitiveness, and growth. Her most recent research looks at global growth prospects in an era of demographic decline, as well as growth of cities. Jaana led MGI’s Urban World research series that includes the shifting economic power of cities, the rising urban consuming class, and mapping of the global company landscape; as well as the patterns of urban growth and renewal across the Americas. Her long term research interests also included analyses of how different policies have contributed to industry competitiveness and growth; the impact of multinational companies on emerging economies; as well as in-depth assessments of the barriers to competitiveness and growth across a range of economies, including the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, and South Korea. She also led MGI’s research on energy, with a focus on understanding the microeconomic underpinnings of global energy demand and the opportunity to reduce energy consumption through higher energy productivity.

Jaana advised global business and government leaders on related topics and frequently contributes to policy debates through articles and conference presentations.