Romer to succeed Basu as World Bank chief economist

Paul Romer is a New York University professor and economist and also a director of the Marron Institute of Urban Management

The World Bank is set to appoint Paul Romer, a New York University professor and economist, as the chief economist when Kaushik Basu’s term ends next week, The Wall Street Journal has reported on Saturday.

Romer is also a director of the Marron Institute of Urban Management, said his website. He is the founding director of a project that conducts applied research on the many ways in which policymakers in the developing world can use the rapid growth of cities to create economic opportunity and undertake systemic social reform, it added.

Romer earned a bachelor of science in mathematics from the University of Chicago and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago. He takes over the coveted job at a time when the world, including developing economies, is facing slowing growth, rising commodity prices and ballooning debt.

“But, in Mr Romer, who received his doctorate in economics at the University of Chicago, the World Bank will be getting a rock star in economist circles who has also made it big in the private sector. He is known as a proponent of the ‘endogenous growth theory,’ which holds that investment in human capital, ideas and technology are the major drivers of economic growth,” the WSJ said in its report on Saturday.

Basu, also the senior vice-president of the World Bank, was earlier India’s chief economic advisor. He is currently on leave from Cornell University where he is professor of economics and the C Marks Professor of International Studies, the World Bank said.

He is currently the president-elect of the International Economic Association and will take over as president from 2017.