世行將任命保羅羅默爲首席經濟學家
The World Bank is set to appoint Paul Romer, a longtime advocate of the economic power of human capital and student of urbanisation, as its new chief economist, bringing arguably the highest-profile name to the role since Nobel winner Joseph Stiglitz.
世界銀行(World Bank)將任命保羅•羅默(Paul Romer)爲新任首席經濟學家。羅默長期倡導人力資本的經濟力量，並長期研究城市化。他將是自諾貝爾獎得主約瑟夫•斯蒂格利茨(Joseph Stiglitz)以來獲得這一任命的最知名人物。
Mr Romer, a US economist who teaches at New York University, is expected to replace Kaushik Basu later this year. A spokesman for the bank would not confirm Mr Romer’s appointment but others within the institution did. His name is expected to be presented to the World Bank’s board as soon as Monday and announced publicly later in the week.
羅默是一名在紐約大學(New York University)執教的美國經濟學家，預計他將在今年晚些時候接替考希克•巴蘇(Kaushik Basu)。世行的一名發言人不願證實羅默的任命，但該機構內部的其他人士證實他將獲得任命。預計他的名字最早將在週一被提交世行董事會，本週稍後正式宣佈。
The move would put an important and occasionally provocative voice in economics in charge of the bank’s research department.
此舉將讓經濟學界一個重要且偶爾引發爭論的聲音負責世行的研究部門。
His 1990 paper arguing the case for “endogenous growth” — the theory that knowledge and innovation can spur growth — is considered one of the most influential papers in economics of the past 30 years.
他在1990年發表主張“內生增長”——知識和創新可以刺激經濟增長的理論——的論文，被認爲是過去30年裏最有影響力的經濟學論文之一。
“It’s an impressive choice,” said Scott Morris, a former US Treasury official who follows the World Bank for the Centre for Global Development. “It’s more in the [Larry] Summers and Stiglitz mold of picking an American superstar economist.”
“這是一個令人印象深刻的選擇，”美國財政部前官員、現在爲全球發展中心(Centre for Global Development)追蹤世行動態的斯科特•莫里斯(Scott Morris)表示。“這更像是挑選一名美國超級明星經濟學家，拉里•薩默斯(Larry Summers)和斯蒂格利茨那種級別的。”
He added: “The bank’s ability to recruit Romer also seems to me to reflect some reputational gains in the last few years, where the bank has been seen as more activist and more relevant to a range of pressing global issues.”
他補充說：“在我看來，世行有能力延攬羅默，似乎也反映了近幾年世行的聲譽有些提升，如今世行被視爲更加積極，對一系列緊迫的全球問題更加投入。”
In recent years Mr Romer has focused on the power of cities to transform economies and how to deal with the rapid urbanisation seen in the developing world.
近年羅默專注於城市在經濟轉型中的力量，以及如何應對發展中世界正在出現的快速城市化。
He has called, for example, for turning impoverished cities in the developing world into vast “reform zones” to spur economic growth and change, citing the example of the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, which in the 1990s became a living laboratory for the economic reforms that set off China’s rapid growth.
例如，他呼籲把發展中世界的貧困城市改造爲巨大的“改革區”，以刺激經濟增長和改革，他援引了中國南方城市深圳的例子；上世紀90年代，深圳成爲推行經濟改革的實驗室，這一改革開啓了中國的快速增長。
Mr Romer is an ardent supporter of the power of economic growth to reduce poverty and will be joining the World Bank at a time when slowing emerging economies are presenting it with a host of new challenges. Economists at the bank last month warned that slowing developing economies had set back their efforts to catch up with rich economies like the US by decades.
羅默強烈支持藉助經濟增長的力量來減少貧困，他加入世界銀行之際，新興經濟體增長放緩正給世行帶來種種新的挑戰。上月該行經濟學家警告稱，發展中經濟體增長不斷放緩，已經使它們趕上美國等富裕經濟體的努力倒退了幾十年。
