Estelle James
Social Insurance and Pension Consulting
Estelle James Consulting

Estelle James is currently a consultant to the World Bank, USAID and other organizations. Previously she was Lead Economist at the World Bank and Director of the Bank’s flagship course on pension reform. She is also a member of the Governing Board of the new pension fund in Kosovo and served as a member of the President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security in the U.S. She is principal author of Averting the Old Age Crisis: Policies to Protect the Old and Promote Growth, a World Bank study that provided the first global analysis of economic problems associated with population aging and the framework for much of the Bank’s policy advice in this area.  Her recent research has focused on social security reform, including the administrative costs of individual accounts, how to handle the annuity stage, and the impact of pension reform on the labor supply of older workers. Her latest book is The Gender Impact of Social Security Reform (University of Chicago Press, 2008, co-authors Alejandra Cox Edwards and Rebeca Wong). She has lectured extensively on aging and social security, advised governments in China, Costa Rica, India, Thailand and other countries, and published numerous papers in professional journals.

Before joining the World Bank she was Professor of Economics and Provost of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. Her previous research was an analysis of the economics of public and private education and the economics of non-profit organizations. She received her BS from Cornell University and her Ph.D. from MIT. For further information see