Somik Lall is Senior Adviser to the Chief Economist of the World Bank Group.
Lall has recently directed the World Bank's 2024 World Development Report on the “Middle Income Trap” that examines how middle-income countries can break into the ranks of the wealthiest economies.
Previously, he headed the climate economics and policy team in the World Bank’s Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions vice presidency, where he developed and supervised policy research programs on resilience and economic development, the macro-criticality of climate change, and innovations for the low-carbon transition.
His other roles include being the Global Lead for territorial development and Lead Economist for the World Bank’s Cities Practice where he developed a novel data-driven approach to help city mayors rapidly respond to protect their citizens from the ravages of COVID 19. Listen to his Monocle podcast.
Lall is widely published in academic and policy journals. His 2021 book, Place, Productivity, and Prosperity, provides a new analytic framework to discipline policies targeting specific places within countries. His 2017 book, “Africa's Cities: Opening Doors to the World,” provides new evidence on institutional and regulatory constraints that hobble urbanization in Africa.
Dr. Lall also teaches at Johns Hopkins University and has been a Visiting Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy in New Delhi.