Alumna Carmen Reinhart appointed as World Bank Group chief economist

The World Bank Group has appointed Carmen Reinhart ’78 as its new vice president and chief economist.

“I am very pleased to welcome Carmen to the World Bank Group as we boost our efforts to restore growth and meet the urgent debt and recession crises facing many of our client countries,” said David Maplass, World Bank Group president. “Carmen has dedicated her career to understanding and surmounting financial crises in both advanced and developing economies in order to achieve growth and higher living standards. Her thought leadership during this unprecedented period will be invaluable to the Bank Group and our clients.”

After graduating from FIU in 1978 with a bachelor's in economics, Reinhart received her master’s and doctorate from Columbia University and became senior policy advisor and deputy director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and chief economist at the investment bank Bear Stearns in the 80s.

She is currently a member of the advisory panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is also a member of the external advisory group created by the IMF to provide input on policy challenges, including the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact.

“Not just this appointment but the entire career of Dr. Carmen Reinhart from her days as an economics major at FIU to her professorship at the Harvard Kennedy School continues to be an inspiration to the students of the Green School,” said Cem Karayalcin, professor and chair of the Department of Economics in the Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs.  

Reinhart has been listed among Bloomberg Markets’ Most Influential 50 in Finance, Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers, and Thomson Reuters’ The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds.

Her work has laid the groundwork for measured responses to financial crises on every economic level, as can be seen in her discussion with the university community on disruptions brought to the U.S. and global economy by the COVID-19 pandemic.