World Bank names chief economist

DUBAI, Sept. 19 - The World Bank said on Friday it had appointed Francois Bourguignon as its new chief economist, replacing Nicholas Stern who is leaving to work for the UK Treasury.

A SENIOR DEVELOPMENT bank source told Reuters on Thursday that Bourguignon, a French national who is currently in charge of the development economics research group in the bank, had been chosen.

“He is internationally recognized as an intellectual leader in the economics of public policy, inequality and economic growth and development,” World Bank President James Wolfensohn said in a statement.

“He also has considerable practical experience of the Bank and its interaction with developing countries and other partners.”

Bourguignon has advised many developing countries, the OECD, the United Nations, and the European Commission. He has been Professor of Economics at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris and also held academic positions with the University of Chile, Santiago, and the University of Toronto.

Stern said his successor “has been a pioneer in studying the links between growth, poverty and inequality, and in the rigorous, evidence-based analysis of the impact of public policy on poor people.”

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