CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard Kennedy School Professor Carmen M. Reinhart has been appointed as the new chief economist and vice president of the World Bank Group.
World Bank Group President David Malpass made the announcement today in Washington, noting that the appointment comes “as we boost our efforts to restore growth and meet the urgent debt and recession crises facing many of our client countries.”
Since joining the Kennedy School faculty in July 2012, Reinhart has been the Minos A. Zombanakis Professor of the International Financial System. She will join the World Bank on June 15, on leave from Harvard Kennedy School.
“Carmen Reinhart has reshaped the way that both scholars and practitioners think about the international financial system,” said Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf, himself an economist and former director of the U.S. Congressional Budget Office. “Her research and writing have greatly expanded our understanding of debt, capital flows, and financial and economic crises. Although her colleagues and students at the Kennedy School will miss her greatly during her leave of absence, I know that she will make a powerful contribution to the World Bank’s ability to help people, communities, and countries that are struggling with the pandemic and its myriad consequences.”
Her previous roles include senior policy advisor and deputy director at the International Monetary Fund and chief economist of the investment bank Bear Stearns. She served as Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and professor of economics and director of the Center for International Economics at the University of Maryland.
“My eight years at HKS have exceeded my expectations, and I expected a great deal!” Reinhart said. “The caliber of the HKS faculty and students are an inspiration to policy makers around the globe. I expect to tap into this pool of expertise in the course of my work at the World Bank.”
Carmen Reinhart received two master’s degrees and her Ph.D. from Columbia University and is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She was listed among Bloomberg Markets’ Most Influential 50 in Finance in 2011.
Among her awards is the King Juan Carlos Prize, recognizing her contribution to the understanding of international capital flows during crises including the U.S. sub-prime crisis and the Asian financial crisis. Her prize-winning book, This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Recurring Financial Folly, co-authored with Harvard Professor Kenneth S. Rogoff, has been translated into 20 languages.