New Delhi: World Bank President David Malpass today announced the selection of Indermit Gill as the Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Senior Vice President for Development Economics.
“Indermit Gill brings to this role a combination of leadership, invaluable expertise and practical experience working with country governments on macroeconomic imbalances, growth, poverty, institutions, conflict, and climate change,” said Malpass. “Indermit is widely respected for his intellectual contributions to development economics”.
Gill spearheaded the influential 2009 World Development Report on Economic Geography. His pioneering work includes introducing the concept of the “middle income trap” to describe how developing countries stagnate after reaching a certain level of income. He has published extensively on policy issues facing developing countries, sovereign debt, green growth, labor markets, poverty and inequality, and managing natural resource wealth.
An Indian national, Gill is currently Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions, where he led work on macroeconomics, debt, trade, poverty, and governance. Between 2016 and 2021, he was a professor of public policy at Duke University and non-resident senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution.
Gill has also taught at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago. A student of Nobel Laureates Gary Becker and Robert E. Lucas Jr., Gill holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.
His appointment is effective on September 1, 2022.