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The World Bank Group has appointed Nobel Prize-winning economist Michael Kremer as its new Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics, bringing a globally recognised development expert to lead the institution’s research, data and analytical work.

World Bank Group President Ajay Banga announced the appointment on Wednesday, saying Kremer’s track record of combining rigorous research with practical solutions made him well suited to help address some of the world’s most pressing development challenges.

“I am pleased to welcome Michael to the World Bank Group,” Banga said. “He joins us at a time when the world needs bold solutions to its most urgent development challenges, including creating jobs that meet the aspirations of more than 1.2 billion young people reaching working age in the coming decade.”

Kremer, who won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics alongside Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, is widely known for pioneering the use of randomised controlled trials to identify effective ways of reducing poverty. His research has influenced policies and programmes in health, education, agriculture and economic development across the developing world.

The appointment comes as the World Bank seeks to strengthen the link between research and real-world outcomes, ensuring that evidence-based analysis helps shape policy decisions, investments and development programmes across both public and private sectors.

“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. He highlighted challenges such as job creation, mobilising private capital for development and expanding access to essential services, while noting that emerging technologies also present significant opportunities for economic growth and improved living standards.

Kremer currently serves as Director of the Development Innovation Lab and University Professor at the University of Chicago. He earned his PhD in Economics from Harvard University and previously held the position of Gates Professor of Developing Societies at Harvard.

Throughout his career, Kremer has focused on developing practical solutions to global development problems. His work with economist Rachel Glennerster helped advance the concept of Advance Market Commitments for vaccines, contributing to the launch of a $1.5 billion programme for pneumococcal vaccines with Gavi and the World Bank Group. The initiative has supplied vaccines to 60 developing countries.

His research on deworming programmes also helped drive large-scale government efforts in Africa and South Asia, leading to an estimated 2 billion deworming treatments for children since 2014. More recently, his work on digital agriculture and artificial intelligence-based weather forecasting has informed government programmes serving more than 50 million people.

Kremer has co-founded several influential organisations, including Precision Development, which uses digital technology to support smallholder farmers, and USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures, an initiative that has invested in more than 300 innovations reaching over 200 million people.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Kremer has received numerous honours, including a MacArthur Fellowship. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Kremer will assume his new role at the World Bank Group on 1 October 2026.