KAMPALA, September 16, 2026 — World Bank Group President Ajay Banga has announced the appointment of Nobel laureate Michael Kremer as World Bank Group Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics.
Kremer, an American, will lead the institution’s research, data and analytical agenda, bringing one of the world’s foremost development economists into a senior leadership role at the World Bank Group.
Kremer is known for tackling real-world problems through innovative solutions grounded in rigorous research and for translating his findings into programmes that have reached hundreds of millions of people. His work has included expanding access to vaccines and school health programmes, as well as supporting smallholder farmers.
“I am pleased to welcome Michael to the World Bank Group. 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,” said Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group.
“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.”
The World Bank Group has moved deliberately to strengthen the connection between knowledge and impact, ensuring that research and data drive its analytical agenda, shape policies and scalable solutions across the public and private sectors, and inform the full range of investments, partnerships and interventions it pursues around the world.
“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,” said Michael Kremer.
“The challenges ahead are enormous, including creating jobs at scale, unlocking the private capital needed to fund development, and ensuring people have the health, education and other services they need to thrive.
“At the same time, new technologies create huge opportunities to boost growth and human well-being. Data, evidence and research can help firms and governments navigate both the challenges and opportunities. I am excited to work with staff across the Bank Group and partners around the world on this.”
Kremer holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard University and currently serves as Director of the Development Innovation Lab at the University of Chicago, where he is a University Professor.
He has conducted research on a broad range of topics, including economic growth, technological change and development economics.
In 2019, Kremer was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo for their “experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”. Their work used randomised controlled trials to generate reliable knowledge and identify, test and scale practical solutions.
Kremer’s current research focuses on innovation in education, health, water, finance and agriculture in developing countries.
Together with Rachel Glennerster, he proposed the use of Advance Market Commitments [AMCs] for vaccines and helped launch a US$ 1.5 billion AMC for a pneumococcal vaccine with Gavi and the World Bank Group.
Vaccines purchased through the AMCs have reached 60 developing countries, tackling a leading cause of infant mortality.
His research on deworming informed programmes scaled up by governments in Africa and South Asia, providing 2 billion deworming treatments to children since 2014.
His work on digital agriculture and AI-based agricultural weather forecasting informed government programmes reaching more than 50 million people in Africa and South Asia.
Kremer co-founded Precision Development, which leverages digital technology to improve productivity and incomes for smallholder farmers. He also co-founded USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures, which has invested in more than 300 innovations reaching more than 200 million people.
Among his many honours, Kremer is a MacArthur Fellow, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Presidential Faculty Fellow.
He is a co-founder of the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development and a Research Associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Before joining the University of Chicago, Kremer was the Gates Professor of Developing Societies in the Department of Economics at Harvard University.
Kremer’s appointment takes effect on October 1, 2026.
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