Nobel Laureate Michael Kremer Takes Role of World Bank Group Chief Economist

Kremer brings experience in taking ideas beyond academic studies and turning them into programmes reaching hundreds of millions of people.

Michael Kremer, whose research has helped expand access to vaccines, school health programmes and agricultural advice, has been appointed World Bank Group Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. Announced by World Bank Group President Ajay Banga, the appointment places the Nobel laureate in charge of the institution's research, data and analytical agenda at a time of mounting pressure to create jobs and improve living standards.

Kremer brings experience in taking ideas beyond academic studies and turning them into programmes reaching hundreds of millions of people. His appointment supports the Bank Group's efforts to connect research more closely with policy decisions, public and private investment, and practical solutions that governments and businesses can expand.

A Research Agenda Shaped by Jobs and Everyday Needs

Creating opportunities for more than 1.2 billion young people expected to reach working age over the coming decade is among the challenges Banga highlighted in welcoming Kremer. He pointed to the economist's record of identifying effective development solutions and demonstrating that they can work on a large scale, describing that approach as central to the institution's needs.

For Kremer, the role brings together the Bank Group's ability to develop and test ideas with its reach across countries, giving successful approaches a route into people's daily lives. He identified job creation, attracting private capital and access to health, education and other essential services as major priorities, with new technologies offering opportunities to improve growth and well-being. Research and reliable data, he said, can help governments and firms make better decisions as they navigate these changes.

From Vaccine Access to Support for Smallholder Farmers

Kremer's work offers examples of how economic research can shape services that families depend on. Working with Rachel Glennerster, he proposed Advance Market Commitments for vaccines and helped launch a $1.5 billion commitment for a pneumococcal vaccine with Gavi and the World Bank Group. Vaccines purchased through these arrangements have reached 60 developing countries, addressing a leading cause of infant mortality.

His research on deworming informed government programmes in Africa and South Asia that have provided children with 2 billion treatments since 2014. Work on digital agriculture and artificial intelligence-based weather forecasting has informed government programmes reaching more than 50 million people across the same regions, connecting research with information that can support farming decisions.

Kremer also co-founded Precision Development, which uses digital technology to help smallholder farmers improve productivity and incomes. Another initiative he co-founded, USAID's Development Innovation Ventures, has invested in more than 300 innovations reaching over 200 million people, reflecting his sustained interest in finding practical ideas and helping them reach larger populations.

Bringing Nobel-Winning Experience to Development Decisions

Kremer shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. Their work used randomized controlled trials to establish reliable evidence about development interventions, helping identify which approaches deliver results and deserve wider adoption.

A Harvard-trained economist with a PhD, Kremer serves as a University Professor and Director of the Development Innovation Lab at the University of Chicago, following an earlier role as Harvard's Gates Professor of Developing Societies. His research covers growth, technological change and development, with current work spanning education, health, water, finance and agriculture. His new position gives that experience a broader institutional reach, placing evidence at the centre of decisions about how development resources can improve people's lives.