I dont know the answer but this is what AI said.
One difficulty is defining “professional economist.” If the standard is PhD/MA in economics, academic economist, published economist, central-bank/IMF/World Bank economist, or finance/economics ministry technocrat, the list gets large quickly. If the standard is merely “studied economics,” it becomes much less useful.
Some possible additions or names to check, depending on how strict your definition is:
Heads of state or government:
* Manmohan Singh, India, prime minister, economist, former finance minister, former RBI governor
* Mario Draghi, Italy, prime minister, economist, former ECB president
* Mario Monti, Italy, prime minister, economist and academic
* Romano Prodi, Italy, prime minister, economist
* Lucas Papademos, Greece, prime minister, economist and central banker
* Xenophon Zolotas, Greece, prime minister, economist
* Raymond Barre, France, prime minister, economist
* Aníbal Cavaco Silva, Portugal, prime minister and president, economist
* Václav Klaus, Czech Republic, prime minister and president, economist
* Tansu Çiller, Turkey, prime minister, economist
* Javier Milei, Argentina, president, economist
* Rafael Correa, Ecuador, president, economist
* Ernesto Zedillo, Mexico, president, economist
* Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Peru, president, economist
* Sebastián Piñera, Chile, president, economics PhD
* Ricardo Lagos, Chile, president, economist
* Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Philippines, president, economist
* Alassane Ouattara, Côte d’Ivoire, president and former prime minister, economist and former IMF official
* Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawi, president, economist
* Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh, interim head of government/chief adviser, economist, if caretaker heads of government are included
* Lawrence Wong, Singapore, prime minister, trained in economics and began his career as an economist in the trade ministry
* Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore, president, economist, former finance minister and central-bank chairman
Cabinet ministers or equivalent:
* Janet Yellen, United States, Treasury secretary, economist
* George Shultz, United States, Treasury, Labor, and State secretary, economist
* Lawrence Summers, United States, Treasury secretary, economist
* Juanita Kreps, United States, Commerce secretary, economist
* Hugh Dalton, United Kingdom, Chancellor of the Exchequer, economist
* Gunnar Myrdal, Sweden, cabinet minister and economist
* Leszek Balcerowicz, Poland, deputy prime minister and finance minister, economist
* Yegor Gaidar, Russia, acting prime minister and economic reformer
* Kemal Derviş, Turkey, economy minister, economist
* Yanis Varoufakis, Greece, finance minister and MP, economist
* Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Indonesia, finance minister, economist
* Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria, finance minister, economist
* Andrés Velasco, Chile, finance minister, economist
* Heizo Takenaka, Japan, minister and economist
* Olli Rehn, Finland, minister and economist
* H. Johannes Witteveen, Netherlands, finance minister and economist
Legislators:
* David Ricardo, British Parliament
* John Stuart Mill, British Parliament
* John Maynard Keynes, House of Lords, if peers are included
* Lionel Robbins, House of Lords
* Paul Douglas, United States Senate, economist
* Phil Gramm, United States House and Senate, economics professor
* **** Armey, United States House, economics professor
* Dave Brat, United States House, economics professor
* Andrew Leigh, Australian Parliament, economist
* Subramanian Swamy, Indian Parliament, economist
* Harsha de Silva, Sri Lankan Parliament, economist
* Meghnad Desai, House of Lords, economist
I would probably sort the final list into tiers:
1. Strict professional economists: economics PhD/MA, academic economist, central-bank economist, IMF/World Bank economist, or substantial economics publications.
2. Economic technocrats: finance ministers, central bankers, or economic-policy officials with economics training but a less clearly academic profile.
3. Borderline cases: politicians with economics degrees but no real professional economics career.
That last distinction matters because otherwise the list gets inflated by people who merely studied economics as undergraduates.
