Will take over on January 24, initially on a part-time basis

French economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas is to be the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next chief economist and will join the fund’s management team as First Deputy Managing Director.

He will take over from Gita Gopinath. Gourinchas is known for his agility in spotting emerging trends and for his expertise in analyzing today’s most pressing economic problems.

He is currently the S.K. and Angela Chan Professor of Global Management at Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Gourinchas will take over as the Fund’s chief economist on January 24, initially on a part-time basis as he finishes his teaching commitments, before assuming charge fully on April 1.

Gourinchas, who has a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, won the 2007 Bernacer Prize for the best European economist under the age of 40 working in macroeconomics and finance as well as the 2008 prize for best French economist under 40.  His areas of interest include consumption, precautionary savings, lending booms, fiscal federalism, labour markets, and exchange rates, among others

IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement: “Pierre-Olivier is known for his agility in spotting emerging trends and for his expertise in analyzing today’s most pressing economic problems. Under his leadership, we can look forward to building on the Fund’s well-earned reputation for excellence in macroeconomics and research in service to our global membership.”

For his part, Gourinchas said on Twitter: “I am deeply honoured to be appointed as the IMF’s new Economic Counsellor and Director of Research. I look forward very much to working with my new IMF colleagues.”