World Bank said Carmen Reinhart’s areas of expertise included international capital flows, finance, and macroeconomics, the economies of Asia and Latin America, banking and sovereign debt crises, currency crashes, and contagion WASHINGTON : The World Bank on Wednesday named former Bear Stearns executive Carmen Reinhart as its new vice president and chief economist, tapping an expert on financial crises who also serves on the advisory board of the New York Federal Reserve. “I am very pleased to welcome Carmen to the World Bank Group as we boost our efforts to restore growth and meet the urgent debt and recession crises facing many of our client countries," World Bank Group President David Malpass said in a statement.