PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Michael Kremer

Development economist Michael Kremer coauthored research that blends AI weather models with changing farmer expectations to tailor monsoon forecasts. In 2025, a government-led program delivered the team’s subseasonal monsoon-onset forecasts to 38 million Indian farmers. He traveled to Kenya in 1985 to study economic development, taught at a new school and co-founded WorldTeach in 1986, earned an economics doctorate at Harvard in 1992, worked at MIT, and became a Harvard professor in 1999. In 1997, he received a MacArthur Fellowship; from 1998 to 2001, he and Edward Miguel evaluated a Kenyan school deworming project, which cut absenteeism by 25 percent; in 2019, he shared the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. At the University of Chicago, he founded the Development Innovation Lab, which launched in April 2022; since October 2026, he is the World Bank Group’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics.

Works
848
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026. Citations and h-index are hidden because this OpenAlex record may be incomplete or mix in other authors.

Timeline

  1. 1985–1986

    Kenya and WorldTeach

    He travels to Kenya in 1985 to study economic development and accepts an invitation to teach at a new school. In 1986, he co-founds WorldTeach with Daniel Levy and Sydney Rosen.

  2. 1992–1999

    Harvard doctorate and professorship

    He earns a doctorate in economics at Harvard in 1992, works at MIT, and becomes a Harvard professor in 1999.

  3. 1997

    A MacArthur Fellowship

    He receives a MacArthur Fellowship in 1997 while serving as an associate professor of economics at MIT.

  4. 1998–2004

    School deworming in Kenya

    From 1998 to 2001, he and Edward Miguel evaluate the Primary School Deworming Project in Kenya. School-based treatment reduces absenteeism by 25 percent, and their paper appears in Econometrica in 2004.

  5. 2019

    An economics Nobel Prize

    He shares the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.

  6. 2020–2022

    Development Innovation Lab

    He joins the University of Chicago in 2020 as a University Professor in Economics and the College and the Harris School of Public Policy and founds the Development Innovation Lab. The lab launches in April 2022 to develop innovations with potential to benefit millions of people in low- and middle-income countries.

  7. 2025–2026

    AI monsoon forecasts

    In 2025, a government-led program deploys the team’s system to deliver subseasonal monsoon-onset forecasts to 38 million Indian farmers. In 2026, he coauthors a study that blends AI weather-prediction models with a statistical model of changing farmer expectations to design useful forecasts for agricultural decisions.

  8. October 2026

    World Bank chief economist

    On October 1, 2026, he becomes the World Bank Group’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics.

Career

  1. Since 2026World Bank GroupChief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics
  2. From 2020University of ChicagoUniversity Professor, Founder
  3. From 1999Harvard UniversityProfessor
  4. From 1986WorldTeachCo-founder

Education

  1. 1992Harvard UniversityDoctorate in Economics

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Michael Kremer. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Chicago. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Chicago. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Michael Kremer yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Theory in practice mag.uchicago.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Teaching and Learning Abroad harvardmagazine.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Michael Kremer – Facts – 2019 nobelprize.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. MIT economics professor wins $215K MacArthur Fellowship news.mit.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Deworming to increase school attendance povertyactionlab.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. The Development Innovation Lab Launches at the University of Chicago, Led by Nobel Laureate Michael Kremer bfi.uchicago.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Designing probabilistic AI monsoon forecasts to inform agricultural decision-making arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Michael Kremer Appointed as World Bank Group Chief Economist worldbank.org. Checked 21 October 2026.