World Bank chief economist Romer to leave after row over Chile

Paul Romer quits

Paul Romer has been chief economists for about 15 months but he's leaving to return to life as a professor at NYU.

The FT reports:

"Romer had been engaged in a running battle with staff economists at the bank almost since his arrival in October 2016. Those battles have included everything from the way the bank's reports are written and Mr Romer's rigid approach to grammar to serious questions about methodology."

Those questions ramped up after Romer hinted at a bias in the World Bank's 'ease of business' ranking because the methodology was seemingly tweaked for Chile depending on who was leading the government.