World Bank: Nobel laureate Michael Kremer will become chief economist on October 1

The World Bank has appointed American economist Michael Kremer, a Nobel Prize laureate in Economic Sciences, as its new chief economist. He will take up his position on October 1, ahead of the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, scheduled this year in Bangkok, Thailand.

Kremer, 61, will succeed Indermit Gill, who retired last month.

A professor at the University of Chicago and a former faculty member at Harvard, he received the Nobel Prize in 2019, together with Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, for their experimental research on reducing global poverty.

Kremer’s research contributed to deworming programs for students, vaccination, school health, and support for smallholder farmers. He also co-founded Precision Development, an organization that uses digital technology to increase the productivity and incomes of farmers in low-income countries.