Indermit Gill is the second Indian to take up the coveted role of Chief Economist at World Bank after Kaushik Basu. Basu served from 2012-2016. Other prominent Indian-origin economists Raghuram Rajan and Gita Gopinath have served as chief economists at the International Monetary Fund, the sister-organisation of the World Bank.
World Bank President David Malpass believes, Indermit Gill would bring invaluable expertise and practical experience to the multilateral institution. Gill himself feels he has big shoes to fill for his new assignment.
Gill brings with him two decades of operational working experience at the World Bank. In his previous stint from 1993 to 2016, he had held several leadership positions including Director for Development Policy in the Office of the World Bank Chief Economist, and Regional Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia.
Gill is respected for his thoughtful leadership, having spearheaded the influential 2009 World Development Report on Economic Geography.
Gill is also regarded for his pioneering work in developing the concept of ‘Middle income trap’ to describe how countries struggle to achieve higher income status after hitting certain income levels.
Rathin Roy, Managing Director, Overseas Development Institute, London says, Gill has an interesting background. No other economist in recent times has the kind of exposure to heterodox economics as Gill does, he says. Gill is a ‘complete economist’.
A student of Nobel Laureates Gary Becker and Robert Lucas, Gill holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago, along with an MA from the Delhi School of Economics. He was a professor at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago and also served as a non-resident Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution.
Contrary to the popular opinion of economists, Gill is said to have a good sense of humour and loves an argument. His colleagues say, Gill is passionate about the state of the profession.
According to Arvind Virmani, former Chief Economic Advisor to the government and India’s representative to IMF, Indermit Gill has two distinctive advantages. He is an insider who has risen through the ranks and therefore knows the bank inside out, and can more easily help to raise the quality of World Bank advice.
Also hailing from an emerging economy, Gill has a better understanding of the conditions and constraints under which emerging market developing countries operate and can better guide development of policies more suited to and sustainable in their condition, Virmani told Business Standard.
The immediate challenge for Gill is the high stagflation risks facing advanced economies and the implications for emerging markets is highly uncertain. Gill would do well to bring certainty on how we look at the economic future of the world and also make progress on green and climate finances.
 "Who is the new World Bank chief economist, Indermit Gill?")
