Michael Kremer Appointed World Bank Group Chief Economist

World Bank President Ajay Banga has named Michael Kremer, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, as World Bank Group Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics, the bank announced on September 16, 2026. This comes at a time when some of the developmental challenges include job creation, access to healthcare and education, private investments, and technology. Kremer is known for using economic research to solve real-world issues and has done a lot of work on poverty, education, healthcare, agriculture, and innovation in the developing world.

Michael Kremer’s New Position at the World Bank

In his new position as Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics, Kremer will assist in bridging the gap between research, evidence and development outcomes within the World Bank Group.

The organization seeks to leverage research and data to develop policies, investments, collaborations and scalable solutions in both the public and private sectors.

According to Banga, Kremer’s expertise in developing and evaluating effective development programs will play a crucial role in addressing some of the challenges faced by the World Bank, including creating job opportunities for the increasing youth population.

How and Why Michael Kremer Won the Nobel Prize

Michael Kremer won the Nobel Prize in Economics along with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo in 2019 for using experimentation to tackle poverty around the world.

This work contributed to establishing the methodology of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) as a way to evaluate development programs. Using RCTs allows researchers to see what works and how to expand the success.

Kremer’s Contributions to Health, Education, and Agriculture

Kremer has done research in many areas in development economics, including economic growth, technology changes, education, health, water, finance, and agriculture.

One contribution that he is known for is the work that he did in Advance Market Commitments (AMCs) for vaccines. In collaboration with Rachel Glennerster, he played an instrumental role in developing this concept, and his work led to $1.5 billion AMC for pneumococcal vaccines through the collaboration of Gavi and the World Bank Group.

As per the World Bank, vaccines acquired through this program have been delivered to 60 developing nations.

His research in deworming has had impact on government programs in Africa and South Asia, and since 2014, more than 2 billion treatments have been administered to children.

Innovation and Technology Research Focus

Recent research activities by Kremer include the use of digital agriculture and AI-driven agriculture weather prediction. It is noted that according to the World Bank, the research has impacted over 50 million people through government programs implemented in Africa and South Asia.

Also, Kremer co-founded Precision Development, an organization that uses digital technologies to enhance the productivity and income of smallholder farmers.

Further, Development Innovation Ventures, an organization that Kremer co-founded, has invested in over 300 innovations and impacted over 200 million people.