Olivier Jean Blanchard (French: [blɑ̃ʃaʁ]; born December 27, 1948) is a French economist, professor and Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He was the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, from September 1, 2008 to October 2015. He was appointed to this position under the tenure of Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He is also Robert M. Solow Professor of Economics emeritus at MIT. At the IMF, he was succeeded by Maurice Obstfeld.