The Brookings Institution is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Kremer—Associate Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and 1997 recipient of a MacArthur genius fellowship–as a nonresident senior fellow in the Economic Studies program. Kremer’s research will focus on the economics of education, research and development, and social security taxes.
Among his projects at Brookings, Kremer plans to study a Colombian program through which the government held a lottery for vouchers allowing 100,000 students to attend private secondary schools between 1992 and 1997. By comparing the winners and losers of the lottery, Kremer and his colleagues will determine the effects of the vouchers on educational attainment and test scores.
“As proposals for voucher-sponsored private education come to the forefront of policy debate, Kremer’s study will be particularly timely and enlightening,” said Brookings President Michael H. Armacost.
“The interdisciplinary resources at Brookings,” said Kremer, “will be a great help in my continuing research into education finance and related topics.”
Kremer has examined health, education, and environmental policy issues affecting Africa; the relationship between population growth and technical change; mechanisms for encouraging research and development; and the effects of reducing payroll taxes for young workers.
Kremer earned a bachelor’s degree in social studies from Harvard University in 1985 and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University in 1992. He has had fellowships at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Kremer was a visiting assistant professor at the University of Chicago in 1993, and is the founder of WorldTeach, a nonprofit organization dedicated to placing volunteer teachers in developing countries. The organization currently places 200 volunteers a year in countries including Costa Rica, Ecuador, China, Namibia, and Thailand.