This is a major appointment and one that has been greeted with notable enthusiasm by many top economists. The World Bank is reported to be naming Paul Romer as their new Chief Economist. Professor Romer is currently at NYU Stern and he is also a director of the Urbanisation Project.

Danny Quah, latterly at the LSE, noted in a tweet that Romer is a "brilliant deep thinker, fully engaged with humanity's largest challenges"

Romer has made some important contributions to our understanding of economic growth and in particular the importance of rules and institutions in shaping competitiveness, growth and sustainable development improvement. His work on Charter cities has been criticised however especially from economists on the left of the political spectrum.

Edward Glaeser & Paul Romer on Rapid Urbanization