Payments

World Bank appoints Nobel Prize winner Michael Kremer as chief economist

Photo: Adobe Stock

September 16, 2026

Summarize with

The World Bank has appointed Michael Kremer, a Nobel laureate and professor, as chief economist. He takes over for Indermit Gill who retired, according to a report by Yahoo!

Kremer won a Nobel Prize in economic sciences for a proposal to alleviate global poverty. He will begin in his role as chief economist on Oct. 1. He has previously helped establish programs for small farmers and vaccine access.

"Michael has spent his career not just identifying what works in development, but proving it at scale — and that is exactly the kind of thinking we need," Ajay Banga, president, World Bank, told Yahoo in a statement.

"The World Bank Group has tremendous research capacity to develop and test innovative solutions to development problems — and the operational reach to scale them up and improve people's lives," Kremer said in the statement.

Payments