World Bank taps India's Basu as chief economist

The World Bank on Wednesday named Kaushik Basu, a Cornell University professor and former Indian official, as the institution's new chief economist and senior vice president. Basu, an Indian national, most recently served as chief economic adviser of India's Ministry of Finance while on leave from Cornell, where he was an economics professor and the C. Marks Professor of International Studies. "Having worked in a Ministry of Finance, in addition to his impressive academic achievements, Kaushik is uniquely suited to help us offer evidence-based solutions and advice to client countries and provide innovative excellence in leading our development research," said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. "Kaushik brings first-hand experience from a developing country and will be a terrific asset to the institution," said Kim. Basu, 60, holds a doctorate from the London School of Economics and founded the Centre for Development Economics at the Delhi School of Economics in 1992. He has also served as chairman of Cornell's economics department, director of its Center for Analytic Economics, and headed the Program on Comparative Economic Development, the World Bank said in a statement. In May 2008 the president of India awarded Basu one of the country's highest civilian awards, the Padma Bhushan, for "distinguished service of high order." Basu begins his term October 1.