Indian-origin Harvard Professor Gita Gopinath has joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as its Chief Economist.
Her role encompasses helping determine financial assistance to countries and leading research by a vast department of economists.
Gopinath’s appointment comes at an especially challenging time, as more countries are seeing a move away from globalization, and grappling with economic uncertainty.
“I am thrilled and honoured,” she told the Harvard Gazette on her appointment.
Identifying some of her top priorities at the IMF, Gopinath told The Harvard Gazette that she would like the IMF to continue to be a place that provides intellectual leadership on important policy questions.
“Among the research issues that I would like to push, one would be understanding the role of dominant currencies like the dollar in international trade and finance. We could do more on the empirical side to try to understand countries’ dollar exposures and on the theoretical side in terms of the implications for international spillovers, consequences of dollar shortages, etc,” she said.
IMF's Managing Director Christine Lagarde has appointed Indian-origin Gita Gopinath as Economic Counsellor and Director of the IMF’s Research Department in October last year.
Ms Gopinath previously worked as the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard University in the United States.
“Gita is one of the world’s outstanding economists, with impeccable academic credentials, a proven track record of intellectual leadership, and extensive international experience,” Ms Lagarde said.
“All this makes her exceptionally well-placed to lead our Research Department at this important juncture. I am delighted to name such a talented figure as our Chief Economist.”
Ms Gopinath is the co-editor of the American Economic Review and co-director of the International Finance and Macroeconomics Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
Professor Gita Gopinath Professor at the economics department of Harvard University posing for profile shoot, on December 12, 2013 in New Delhi, India. Source: Ramesh Pathania/Mint via Getty Images
She is co-editor of the current Handbook of International Economics with Former IMF Economic Counsellor Kenneth Rogoff and has authored some 40 research articles on exchange rates, trade and investment, international financial crises, monetary policy, debt, and emerging market crises.
Ms Gopinath was born and grew up in India. She is a U.S citizen and an Overseas Citizen of India.
She received her PhD in economics from Princeton University in 2001 after earning a B.A. from the University of Delhi and M.A. degrees from both the Delhi School of Economics and University of Washington.
She joined the University of Chicago in 2001 as an Assistant Professor before moving to Harvard in 2005. She became a tenured Professor there in 2010.
With her appointment, the IMF joins the OECD and World Bank in having a woman in the top economic role in the institution.
