Crisis expert Carmen Reinhart appointed World Bank Chief Economist

Carmen Reinhart, a crisis expert and professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, will assume her role as the Chief Economist and Vice President at the World Bank on 15th June 2020.

David Malpass, the President of the World Bank Group, made the announcement on 20th May 2020.

“I am very pleased to welcome Carmen to the World Bank Group as we boost our efforts to restore growth and meet the urgent debt and recession crises facing many of our client countries,” said Malpass.

“Carmen has dedicated her career to understanding and surmounting financial crises in both advanced and developing economies in order to achieve growth and higher living standards. Her thought leadership during this unprecedented period will be invaluable to the Bank Group and our clients.”

She is due to replace Penny Goldberg, who resigned from the post in March 2020.

Reinhart takes over the post at a time when the world is facing one of its biggest recessions ever caused due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Who is Carmen Reinhart?

Born in Cuba, Carmen Reinhart, 64, is currently a professor at Harvard, specializing in international finance crises and economic meltdowns. She is renowned for her research work on financial disasters written with another Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff, “This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly” (2008). This scholarly work focused on the economic damage inflicted by financial recessions throughout history.

Her areas of expertise include finance, capital flows, and macroeconomics. Consistently ranked as one of the top economists in the world, she is the recipient of the King Juan Carlos Prize in Economics and NABE’s Adam Smith Award, among others.

Reinhart has had an illustrious career in the academia as well as with organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Bear Stearns, and Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

We wish Reinhart a very successful stint in her new role!