IMF Economic Counsellor and Director of Research Olivier Blanchard To Retire from the Fund

IMF News, May 14, 2015

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Press Release No. 15/219
Date: May 14, 2015
Mr. Olivier Blanchard notified IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde of his intention to retire from the Fund, effective September 30, 2015.
Media relations contact:
- IMF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
- E-mail: media@imf.org
- Phone: 202-623-7100

Position held: Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Under Mr. Blanchard’s leadership:
- The IMF’s Research Department and its flagship publication, the World Economic Outlook (WEO), "has further enhanced the reputation of the Fund."
- The WEO is described as "the most influential economic outlook produced by a public institution and is used by policymakers as a baseline the world over."
- The “Rethinking Macro Policy” Conference Series, initiated by Mr. Blanchard and in its third year at the time of the release, attracts leading scholars and policymakers, "including several Nobel Prize winners."
- The IMF’s Annual Research Conference "has become a leading venue for ground breaking research."

Christine Lagarde’s remarks:
- "As one of the world’s leading macroeconomists, Olivier has been on the forefront of the Fund’s response to the global financial crisis, spurring a fundamental rethinking of macroeconomic policy that is still reverberating in academic and policy circles."
- "On a more personal note, I have immensely valued Olivier’s intellectual leadership, wise counsel, friendship and loyalty during the past four years. Like everyone else at the Fund, I will miss him."
- "These achievements are testament not only to Olivier’s remarkable intellectual powers but also his unwavering commitment to rigorous and data-driven research—qualities, which combined with his personal warmth and unique sense of humor, will leave an indelible mark on the Fund and all of us who have been privileged to work with him."

Nationality: A citizen of France.
Education and academic career:
- PhD in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977.
- Taught at Harvard University for a few years before returning to MIT in 1982.
- Became Chairman of MIT’s Economics Department in 1998, a position held until 2003.
- Appointed IMF Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department in 2008.
- Robert M. Solow professor at MIT; now emeritus.
Research areas and publications:
- Worked on: the role of monetary policy, the nature of speculative bubbles, the functioning of the labor market and determinants of unemployment, transition in the former communist countries, and the Great Financial Crisis.
- Author of numerous books and articles, including two textbooks in macroeconomics which "have become standards"—one co-authored with Stanley Fischer.

Upon departure, Mr. Blanchard will take up a position as the C. Fred Bergsten Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
"The search process to identify a successor to Mr. Blanchard will begin right away."

IMF Communications Department press release, May 14, 2015