Gita Gopinath, a noted Harvard professor of economics and financial advisor to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, took charge as chief economist at the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday.
Born in Kolkata and raised in Mysuru, Gita Gopinath was officially appointed on October 1, 2018 as Economic Counsellor and Director of the IMF’s Research Department by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. She took over her new position at the IMF after the retirement of Maurice Obstfeld on December 31. She’s the 11th chief economist for the IMF and the first woman to occupy the position.
She currently serves as the John Zwaanstra professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard University. She was also the co-editor of the American Economic Review and co-director of the International Finance and Macroeconomics Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. In 2011, she was a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.
After graduating from Lady Shri Ram College in New Delhi with a Bachelors in Economics, she completed her Masters in Economics from Delhi School of Economics. She later pursued her Doctorate in Economics from the University of Washington and Princeton University.
She was appointed as a permanent professor at Harvard University’s Economics Department in 2010. In 2016, she was appointed by the CPI(M)-led LDF government in Kerala as financial advisor to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
1. Her father and mother, TV Gopinath and VC Vijayalakshmi, are both from Kerala and currently reside in Mysuru.
2. She was born in Calcutta (1971) and grew up in India. She is a US citizen and an Overseas Citizen of India.
3. Gita is the second Indian after former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan to hold the position.
4. Gita Gopinath is the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and of Economics at Harvard University.
5. She is the third woman and the second Indian after Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to be made a permanent member of the economics department at Harvard.
6. She is an Economic Adviser to the Chief Minister of Kerala state (India).
7. Gita is a co-director of the International Finance and Macroeconomics program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She is also a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. She is also a member of the economic advisory panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
8. The 46-year-old was born to TV Gopinath, a farmer and entrepreneur, and VC Vijayalakshmi from Kannur.
9. She is married to Iqbal Dhaliwal, who is the executive director at Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
10. Gita completed her Bachelor’s in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi. She did her Masters in Economics from Delhi School of Economics (1992-94) and University of Washington (1994-96). She did her PhD in Economics from Princeton University (1996-2001).
11. She has authored around 40 research articles on exchange rates, trade and investment, international financial crises, monetary policy, debt, and emerging market crises.
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