Environmental economics, climate change, natural resource conservation, indicators of sustainable development and country performance, African infrastructure development, priority-setting for country aid allocation
PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1974); BA, Princeton University (1968)
David Wheeler is a senior fellow emeritus at the Center for Global Development, where his work focuses on issues related to climate change, natural resource conservation, African infrastructure development, sustainable development indicators and the allocation of development aid. From 1993 to 2006, as a lead economist in the World Bank's Development Research Group, he directed a team that worked on environmental policy and research issues in collaboration with policymakers and academics in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Ghana and other developing countries. His team focused particularly on reducing pollution through public information disclosure, in collaboration with the environment ministries of China, Indonesia and the Philippines. He also worked on priority-setting for country lending, grants and technical assistance with the World Bank's Vice Presidency for Operations Policy and Country Services, the World Bank's Environment Department, and the Global Environment Facility. During his last two years at the Bank, he and his colleagues initiated a climate change program in the Development Research Group, as well as collaborating with the Bank's Africa Region on a cost-effective strategy for road network upgrading in Sub-Saharan Africa.
After completing his PhD in 1974, Wheeler taught economics for two years at the National University of Zaire in Kinshasa. He joined the economics faculty at Boston University in 1976, and taught there until he joined the World Bank in 1990. While on the BU faculty, he was a visiting professor in MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning (1978-79), a co-founder and principal of the Boston Institute for Developing Economies (1987-1990), and Jakarta field director of the Development Studies Project for BAPPENAS, Indonesia's Planning Ministry (1987-1989).
