Author: James Smalhout
Just when it seemed that IMF managing director Horst Köhler had lost a mother lode of irreplaceable talent, the Fund announced in early June that a bevy of world-class stars would be joining its senior staff. This changing of the economic guard may well be the most impressive in recent years, involving some of the best and brightest willing to serve in the public sector from academe and beyond.
Stanford University economist Anne Krueger, 67, heads the new line-up, replacing Stanley Fischer as first deputy managing director, the Fund's number two position. Her job carries a five-year term.
Fischer, a consummate diplomat and an economist's economist, came to the IMF widely esteemed after a brilliant career teaching at MIT and the University of Chicago. Fischer's act, by all accounts, will be a hard one to follow. He virtually ran this pivotal institution under managing director Michel Camdessus.
But Krueger arrives with no shortage of stature. And her appointment is nothing if not symmetrical. Fischer replaced her once many years ago as vice-president and chief economist at the World Bank. This time, she's doing the honours. Krueger has also served as president of the American Economic Association, the leading group of professional economists in the US.