Gita Gopinath, New IMF Chief Economist, Was A Delhi University Student

India-born economist Gita Gopinath was today appointed the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), making her the second Indian after former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan to hold the position.

Gita Gopinath was born and brought up in India. She is a US citizen and an Overseas Citizen of India. Ms Gopinath received her Ph.D in economics from Princeton University in 2001 after earning a BA from the University of Delhi and MA degrees from both the Delhi School of Economics and University of Washington. She joined the University of Chicago in 2001 as an Assistant Professor before moving to Harvard in 2005. She became a tenured Professor there in 2010.

Gita Gopinath is the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and of Economics at Harvard University. Her research focuses on International Finance and Macroeconomics. She is co-director of the International Finance and Macroeconomics program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, member of the economic advisory panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Economic Adviser to the Chief Minister of Kerala state (India), co-editor of the American Economic Review, co-editor of the current Handbook of International Economics and was managing editor of the Review of Economic Studies.

Gita Gopinath has also served as a member of the Eminent Persons Advisory Group on G-20 Matters for India's Ministry of Finance. In 2017 she received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Washington. In 2014, she was named one of the top 25 economists under 45 by the IMF and she was chosen as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2011.