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About Michael
Michael Kremer is the University Professor in the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics, the College, and the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, a position he has held since 2020. He directs the Development Innovation Lab and serves as Faculty Director of the Development Economics Center. Previously, Kremer was the Gates Professor of Developing Societies at Harvard University from 2003 to 2020, Professor of Economics at Harvard from 1999 to 2003, and held positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1993 to 1999, including Pentti Kouri Career Development Associate Professor and Assistant Professor of Economics. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 1992 and his A.B. in Social Studies, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Harvard College in 1985. Early in his career, he served as Executive Director of WorldTeach from 1986 to 1989 and taught at Eshisiru Secondary School in Kenya from 1985 to 1986.
Kremer's research focuses on development economics, including field experiments in education, health, water, and agriculture in developing countries, innovation incentives such as Advance Market Commitments and patent buy-outs, behavioral economics, and political economy in development. He is a co-recipient of the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for the experimental approach to alleviating global poverty, along with membership in the National Academy of Sciences (2020), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2003), a MacArthur Fellowship (1997), and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (1996). His work has led to practical impacts, including Advance Market Commitments for a pneumococcal vaccine rolled out in 60 developing countries, Deworm the World providing deworming to over 150 million children annually, the Dispensers for Safe Water Program reaching 4 million people, and co-founding Precision Agriculture for Development. Key publications include "The O-ring Theory of Economic Development" (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1993), "Worms at Work: Long-Run Impacts of a Child Health Investment" (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2016), and "Experimentation, Innovation, and Economics" (American Economic Review, 2020). Kremer co-founded BREAD and served as Scientific Director of USAID's Development Innovation Ventures, and held editorial positions including Associate Editor for the Quarterly Journal of Economics (1998-2008) and Journal of Development Economics (1999-2004).