The World Bank announced on Wednesday that Nobel laureate and University of Chicago professor Michael Kremer will serve as its next chief economist, succeeding Indermit Gill, who retired last month. Kremer, 61, is scheduled to begin his tenure on October 1, just prior to the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Bangkok, Thailand.

Kremer, who won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences alongside Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, is recognized for pioneering an experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. His work emphasizes rigorous research methods to develop innovative solutions in areas such as education, health, agriculture, water, and finance targeting developing countries. Previously, he taught economics at Harvard University and currently directs the Development Innovation Lab at the University of Chicago.

World Bank President Ajay Banga highlighted Kremer’s capacity to not only identify effective development interventions but also to scale them successfully. Banga emphasized the urgency of addressing pressing global challenges, including the need to create jobs for the more than 1.2 billion young people expected to enter the workforce in the coming decade.

Kremer takes on the role at a time when many developing nations face economic difficulties stemming from rising interest rates, increased energy costs, and geopolitical tensions, particularly following the US military engagement in Iran. These challenges have compounded a significant reduction in official development assistance, which declined by 23 percent in 2025—the steepest drop on record—with the United States responsible for a significant portion of this decrease.

Kremer is noted as the first chief economist at the World Bank to have already received a Nobel Prize prior to appointment; previous laureates such as Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Romer were honored after their service.

In his previous work, Kremer has advocated for reforms to accelerate progress toward ambitious development goals by funding innovative pilot projects and supporting research on new technologies. In 2024, he delivered a keynote address at a World Bank event titled “The Great Incoherence: Growth and Human Development in an Era of Stagnation,” where he underscored the importance of leveraging emerging technologies to stimulate growth.

Outside of his academic and professional commitments, Kremer co-founded Development Innovation Ventures, a funding mechanism for innovative development projects administered by the US Agency for International Development, which was discontinued under the Trump administration. He and his wife, Rachel Glennerster—a British economist and current president of the Center for Global Development—are members of Giving What We Can, a nonprofit encouraging high-impact charitable giving.

Kremer’s appointment reflects the World Bank’s focus on integrating rigorous evidence-based approaches with scalable operational capacity to address complex development challenges worldwide.