Indian to head IMF research department

Thursday, 03 July 2003, 19:30 IST   |    1 Comments
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WASHINGTON: An Indian economist who has been teaching in the U.S. will now head the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) research department. IMF managing director Horst Köhler appointed Raghuram Rajan, a distinguished economist at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, to the position of economic counsellor and director at the department. Rajan will succeed Kenneth Rogoff, who had earlier announced his decision to return to academia in the fall of 2003. According to an IMF press release, Rajan has been at the forefront of work on banking and financial sector issues. With his exceptional rise within the economics profession as well as with his extensive experience, Rajan will bring a strong and proven record of intellectual leadership to the IMF. This will be an asset to develop further the IMF's research programme to the leading edge of economic theory and policy, it said. His particular experience in financial sector issues will help strengthen the IMF's role as a centre of excellence in macroeconomic and financial sector stability. Rajan, 40, an Indian national, has published extensively on economic and financial matters. Prior to his present appointment at Chicago, Rajan has held professorships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Northwestern University and the Stockholm School of Economics. He was awarded the prestigious inaugural Fisher Black Prize by the American Finance Association in January 2003 given to a person under 40 who has contributed the most to the theory and practice of finance. He is a director of the American Finance Association, an associate editor of the American Economic Review, and a programme director for corporate finance at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He has also been a consultant to the Federal Reserve Board, the World Bank, the IMF and various financial institutions.
Source: IANS
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