2/6/2015

Economy

IMFLists25BrightestYoungEconomists

IMF

IMFLists25BrightestYoungEconomists
By Boby Michael
August 27, 2014 14:52 BST

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has identified twenty-five young economists who
it expects will shape the world's thinking about the global economy in the future.
The list of bright, young economists (they are all aged under 45) is dominated by
Americans who share US nationality with other countries like France, India, Australia and
Canada. There are also representatives from the UK, Russia and Argentina.
The IMF has prepared the list after surveying international economists, journalists and
other readers, which will appear in the September volume of Finance & Development,
published on 27 August.
Another important feature most of those who made it to the list share is their place of
study. Except two, all had their advanced studies done in a famous US institute.
Here is the list of institutes: MIT-five, Harvard - six, Princeton - two, University of Chicago
- three, New York University - two, University of California - one, University of Columbia one, University of Stanford - two, Peterson Institute - one. The non-US institutions are the
London Business School, and Paris School of Economics.
American Melissa Dell and Russian Oleg Itskhoki, both 31, are the youngest ones in the
list.
And here is the list of economists.
1. Nicholas Bloom, 41, British, Stanford University, uses quantitative research to measure
and explain management practices across firms and countries. He also researches the
causes and consequences of uncertainty and studies innovation and information
technology.
2. Amy Finkelstein,40, American, MIT, researches the impact of pub- lic policy on health
care systems, government intervention in health insurance markets, and market failures.
3. Raj Chetty,35, Indian and American, Harvard University, received his Ph.D. at age 23.
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He combines empirical evidence and economic theory to research how to improve

government pol- icy decisions in areas such as tax policy, unemployment insurance,
education, and equality of opportunity.
4. Melissa Dell,31, American, Harvard, examines poverty and insecurity through the
relationship between state and non-state actors and economic development, and studies
how reforms such as government crackdowns on drug violence can influence economic
outcomes.
5. Kristin Forbes, 44, American, Bank of England and MIT, has held positions in both
academia and the economic policy sphere, where she applies her research to policy
questions related to international macroeconomics and finance.
6. Roland Fryer, 37, American, Harvard, focuses on the social and political economics of
race and inequality in the United States. His research investigates economic disparity
through the development of new economic theory and the implementation of
randomized experiments.
7. Xavier Gabaix, 43, French, New York University (NYU), has researched behavioral
economics, finance, and macro- economics, including corporate executives'
compensation levels and asset pricing.
8. Gita Gopinath, 42, American and Indian, Harvard, studies international
macroeconomics and trade with a focus on sovereign debt, the response of international
prices to exchange rate movements, and the rapid shifts in relative value among world
currencies.
9. Esther Duflo, 42, French and American, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
and the Jameel Poverty Action Lab, focuses on microeconomic issues in developing
economies, including household behavior, education, access to finance, health, and
policy evaluation.
10. Matthew Gentzkow, 39, American, University of Chicago, applies micro- economic
empirical methods to the economics of the news media, including the economic forces
driving the creation of media products, the media and the digital environment, and the
media's effect on education and civic engagement.
11. Emmanuel Farhi, 35, French, Harvard, is a macroeconomist who focuses on
monetary economics, international economics, finance and public finance, including
research on global imbalances, monetary and fiscal policy, and taxation.
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12. Oleg Itskhoki, 31, Russian, Princeton University, specializes in macroeconomics and
international economics with a focus on globalization, inequality and labor market outcomes, international relative prices and exchange rates, and macroeconomic policy in
open economies.
13.
Hlne Rey, 44, French, London Business School, focuses on the determinants and
consequences of external trade and financial imbalances, the theory of financial crises,
and the organization of the international monetary system.
14. Emmanuel Saez, 41, French and American, University of California, Berkeley, is
recognized for using both theoretical and empirical approaches to income inequality and
tax policy.
15. Jonathan Levin,41, American, Stanford, is an expert on industrial organization and
microeconomic theory, specifically on the economics of contracting, organizations, and
market design.
16. Atif Mian,39, Pakistani and American, Princeton, studies the connections between
finance and the macro economy. He is coauthor of the critically acclaimed House of
Debt, which builds on powerful new data to describe how debt precipitated the Great
Recession and continues to threaten the global economy.
17. Emi Nakamura,33, Canadian and American, Columbia University, is a
macroeconomist whose fields of research include monetary and fiscal policy, business
cycles, finance, exchange rates, and macreconomic measurement.
18. Nathan Nunn,40, Canadian, Harvard, focuses his research on economic history,
economic development, political econ- omy and international trade. Of particular interest
is the long-term impact of historic events such as slave trade and colonial rule on
economic development.
19. Parag Pathak,34, American, MIT, played a role in apply- ing engineering approaches
to microeconomics. His research focuses on market design, education and urban
economics.
20. Thomas Philippon,40, French, NYU, studies the interactions of finance and
macroeconomics: risk premia and corporate investment, financial crisis and systemic
risk, and the evolution of financial intermediation.
21. Amit Seru, 40, Indian, University of Chicago, researches financial intermediation and
regulation as well as issues related to corporate finance, including resource allocation
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within and between firms, and organizational incentives.

22. Amir Sufi,37, American, University of Chicago, is coauthor of House of Debt. He
studies links between finance and the macro economy, including the effect of house
prices on spending and the effect of corporate finance on investment.
23. Ivn Werning,40, Argentine, MIT, is a macroeconomist who aims to improve tax and
unemployment insurance policies via theoretical economic models. As well as optimal
taxation, he studies stabilization and monetary policy, including macroprudential policy.
24.
Justin Wolfers,41, Australian and American, Peterson Institute for International
Economics and University of Michigan (on leave), studies labor economics,
macroeconomics, political economy, law and economics, social policy, and behavioral
economics. In addition to his research, Wolfers is a columnist for The New York Times.
25.Thomas Piketty,43, French, Paris School of Economics, is known for his research,
with Emmanuel Saez, on the distribution of income and wealth. His bestseller, Capital in
the Twenty-First Century, argues that global inequality will increase because the rate of
capital return in developed economies is higher than the rate of economic growth,
exacerbating wealth inequality.

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Bozhidar Hristov

Sep 2, 2014

I would add Zoltan Pozsar.

flag / like / reply
Jack Antunes Rosa

Sep 1, 2014

I think this list of economists perhaps one day, we may check the levels of inequality in the
distribution of income and wealth, both developed nations and for underdeveloped.
flag / 1 like / reply
intechsolutions srinu

Sep 1, 2014

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Mario Pansera

Aug 29, 2014

wow not surprisingly 100% are from mainstream non-sense! the gotha of Anglo-Saxon
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economic-idiocy. does the IMF know that outside US and UK there is a world of people
acting and thinking exactly the opposite of those 'young bright' elite ? this is not a list of the
best, the is ... more
flag / 1 like / reply
Svetislav Meandzija

Aug 28, 2014

What a stupid article. Economy? Exact science? Do they have a glass ball to tell us the
future? What a laugh!
flag / 2 like / reply

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