The World Bank Group appointed Michael Kremer as chief economist and senior vice president for development economics. His appointment takes effect on 1 October 2026. He will succeed Indermit Gill, who retired in August.
Kremer is a University Professor and director of the Development Innovation Lab at the University of Chicago. He shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo for an experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. He previously taught at Harvard University, where he completed his doctorate in economics.
RESEARCH WITH OPERATIONAL REACH
Kremer's work has linked academic research with programmes in health, education and agriculture. The World Bank said his proposal for advance market commitments, developed with Rachel Glennerster, helped launch a $1.5 billion commitment for a pneumococcal vaccine with Gavi and the Bank. Vaccines purchased through these arrangements have reached 60 developing countries.
The Bank also said his research on deworming informed government programmes in Africa and South Asia that have provided children with 2 billion treatments since 2014. It said his recent work on digital agriculture and artificial-intelligence weather forecasting had influenced programmes reaching more than 50 million people in Africa and South Asia.
MANDATE AND NEXT MILESTONE
Kremer will lead the institution's research, data and analytical agenda. Reuters reported that he is the first person to join the institution as chief economist after already receiving a Nobel Prize.
He takes up the role ahead of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings in Bangkok in October.
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