Washington — The World Bank’s chief economist has been stripped of his management duties after researchers rebelled against his efforts to make them communicate more clearly, including curbs on the written use of "and." Paul Romer is relinquishing oversight of the Development Economics Group, the research hub of the Washington-based development lender, according to an internal staff announcement seen by Bloomberg. Kristalina Georgieva, the CE for the bank’s biggest fund, will take over management of the unit July 1. Romer will remain chief economist, providing management with "timely thought leadership on trends directly affecting our client countries, including the ‘future of work’", World Bank president Jim Yong Kim said in the note to staff dated May 9. Romer said he met resistance from staff when he tried to refine the way they communicated. "I was in the position of being the bearer of bad news," he said in an interview. "It’s possible that I was focusing too much on the precis...
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