Michael Kremer
Encyclopedia
Michael Robert Kremer is a development economist
and is currently the Gates Professor of Developing Societies at Harvard University
. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
, a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a Presidential Faculty Fellowship, and was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum
. Kremer is also a Research Affiliate at Innovations for Poverty Action, a New Haven, Connecticut
based research outfit dedicated to creating and evaluating solutions to social and international development problems. Kremer is founder and president of WorldTeach
, a Harvard-based organization which places college students and recent graduates as volunteer teachers on summer and year-long programs in developing countries around the world.
His work focuses on the use of incentives, particularly the design of incentive mechanisms to encourage the development of vaccine
s for use in developing countries, and the use of randomized trials to evaluate interventions in the social sciences. He created the well known economic theory regarding skill complementarities, Kremer's O-Ring Theory of Economic Development.
He has also proposed one of the most convincing explanations for the phenomenon of the World System population hyperbolic growth
observed prior to the early 1970s, as well as the economic mechanisms of the demographic transition
. Kremer has also presented on his research in the field of human capital at the International Growth Centre
's Growth Week 2010.
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
and is currently the Gates Professor of Developing Societies at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
, a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a Presidential Faculty Fellowship, and was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
. Kremer is also a Research Affiliate at Innovations for Poverty Action, a New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
based research outfit dedicated to creating and evaluating solutions to social and international development problems. Kremer is founder and president of WorldTeach
WorldTeach
WorldTeach is a non-governmental organization that provides opportunities for individuals to make a meaningful contribution to international education by living and working as volunteer teachers in developing countries. Founded in 1986 by a group of Harvard University students, WorldTeach places...
, a Harvard-based organization which places college students and recent graduates as volunteer teachers on summer and year-long programs in developing countries around the world.
His work focuses on the use of incentives, particularly the design of incentive mechanisms to encourage the development of vaccine
Vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
s for use in developing countries, and the use of randomized trials to evaluate interventions in the social sciences. He created the well known economic theory regarding skill complementarities, Kremer's O-Ring Theory of Economic Development.
He has also proposed one of the most convincing explanations for the phenomenon of the World System population hyperbolic growth
Hyperbolic growth
When a quantity grows towards a singularity under a finite variation it is said to undergo hyperbolic growth.More precisely, the reciprocal function 1/x has a hyperbola as a graph, and has a singularity at 0, meaning that the limit as x \to 0 is infinity: any similar graph is said to exhibit...
observed prior to the early 1970s, as well as the economic mechanisms of the demographic transition
Demographic transition
The demographic transition model is the transition from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as a country develops from a pre-industrial to an industrialized economic system. The theory is based on an interpretation of demographic history developed in 1929 by the American...
. Kremer has also presented on his research in the field of human capital at the International Growth Centre
International Growth Centre
The International Growth Centre is a research institute based jointly at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Oxford University that provides advice on economic growth to governments of developing countries...
's Growth Week 2010.