Who is Gita Gopinath, Indian-origin economist who quit top IMF post to rejoin Harvard?

The Indian-origin economist will step down from her position at IMF in August, and rejoin the Harvard Economics Department on September 1 as the inaugural Gregory and Ania Coffey Professor of Economics.

Who is Gita Gopinath?

Gita Gopinath is an Indian-American economist, currently serving as the the first deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since January 21, 2022. Gopinath was born in Kolkata in 1971. She holds an economics degree from the Delhi School of Economics and also from Delhi University. She then moved to the United States to pursue her MA degree from the University of Washington. She later earned her PhD from Princeton University.

Gopinath joined the IMF in January 2019 as chief economist and was promoted to the post of first deputy managing director in January 2022. Prior to joining the IMF, Gopinath was the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and of Economics at Harvard University’s economics department from 2005 to 2022.

Before joining Harvard, she was an assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business from 2001 to 2005.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva described Gopinath as an “outstanding colleague—an exceptional intellectual leader, dedicated to the mission and members of the Fund, and a fabulous manager, always showing genuine care for the professional standing and wellbeing of our staff.”

Gopinath also co-authored the ‘Pandemic Plan’ on how to end the COVID-19 crisis, a contribution which has widely been hailed as filling an important global gap by setting targets to vaccinate the world at feasible cost, Georgieva said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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