Michael Kremer

University Professor
Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics, Harris Public Policy, and the College

Michael Kremer was among the first economists to evaluate interventions in developing countries through randomized control trials. He and his colleagues developed an iterative strategy that engages—and, in some instances, founds—nongovernmental organizations to deliver social programs that implement and test economic ideas. One such trial led to the provision of free deworming treatments to 280 million children, a cost-effective measure to improve health and nutrition. Kremer also helped develop the advance market commitment, a contract that would guarantee that if firms developed vaccines meeting certain technological specifications for diseases affecting the developing world, donors would help cover the cost of purchasing the product.

He is the author of more than 120 academic articles and book chapters. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. In 2019, Kremer shared the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

Kremer earned his PhD in economics from Harvard University. He was most recently the Gates Professor of Developing Societies in the Department of Economics at Harvard University. At the University of Chicago, he will lead a new Development Innovation Lab, an initiative housed within the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics.

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Photo credit: Jon Chase/Harvard University