Jayati Ghosh (born 16 September 1955) is an Indian

development economist Development economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural ...

. She is the Chairperson of the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at the

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...

, New Delhi and her core areas of study include

international economics International economics is concerned with the effects upon economic activity from international differences in productive resources and consumer preferences and the international institutions that affect them. It seeks to explain the patterns and ...

, employment patterns in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

macroeconomic policy Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix ''makro-'' meaning "large" + ''economics'') is a branch of economics dealing with performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. For example, using interest rates, taxes, and ...

, and issues related to

gender and development Gender and development is an interdisciplinary field of research and applied study that implements a Feminism, feminist approach to understanding and addressing the disparate impact that economic development and globalization have on people based up ...

Early life

Jayati Ghosh was born on 16 September 1955. Ghosh attended

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

for her undergraduate and got her M.A., M. Phil. in economics from

. She joined

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

for her PhD after winning the Inlaks Scholarship. Her 1984 doctoral thesis at

was entitled ''The Non capitalist Land Rent: Theories and the Case of North India'' under the supervision of Dr. Terence J. Byres.

Career

Ghosh has previously held positions at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

and

, lecturing meanwhile at academic institutions throughout India. She is one of the founders of the Economic Research Foundation, New Delhi, a non-profit trust devoted to progressive economic research. (Selections of her columns from the Macroscan, the Foundation's outlet, will be published as ''Tracking the Macroeconomy''.) She is also the Executive Secretary of the International Development Economics Associates (IDEAS), a network of economists critical of the mainstream economic paradigm of neo-liberalism. Ghosh was the principal author of the West Bengal Human Development Report which has received the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

Prize for excellence in analysis. In addition to her many scholarly articles, she writes regular columns on economics and current affairs for Frontline magazine, ''

Business Line ''Business Line'' or ''The Hindu Business Line'' is an Indian business newspaper published by Kasturi & Sons, the publishers of the newspaper ''The Hindu'' located in Chennai, India. The newspaper covers priority industry verticals, such as Agri ...

'', the Bengali newspaper ''

Ganashakti ''Ganashakti Patrika'' (1967-present) is an Indian Bengali daily newspaper published from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Initially the paper started as an organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) West Bengal State Committee.

'', ''

Deccan Chronicle ''Deccan Chronicle'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded by Rajagopal Mudaliar in the 1930s & currently owned by Samagrah Commercial Pvt Limited. It is published in Hyderabad, Telangana, by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited ( ...

'', and ''

Asian Age ''The Asian Age'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper with editions published in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. It also prints an "international edition" in London. It was launched in February 1994. The same publishing company also prod ...

''. She also writes a regular column for the fortnightly national magazine ''

Frontline Front line refers to the forward-most forces on a battlefield. Front line, front lines or variants may also refer to: Books and publications * ''Front Lines'' (novel), young adult historical novel by American author Michael Grant * ''Frontlines ...

'', focusing mainly on economic issues. In Spring Term 2011, Ghosh served as the first

Ragnar Nurkse Ragnar Wilhelm Nurkse (, Käru, Estonia (then Russian Empire) – 6 May 1959, Mont Pèlerin, Switzerland) was an Estonian-American economist and policy maker mainly in the fields of international finance and economic development. He is cons ...

Visiting Professor in

Development Economics Development economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural ...

Tallinn University of Technology Established in 1918, Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech; et, Tallinna Tehnikaülikool) is the only technical university in Estonia. TalTech, in the capital city of Tallinn, is a university for engineering, business, public administratio ...

Technology Governance Technology governance means the governance, i.e., the steering between the different sectors—state, business, and NGOs—of the development of technology. It is the idea of governance within technology and its use, as well as the practices behi ...

graduate program. In 2021, she was appointed to the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

's Council on the Economics of Health For All, chaired by

Mariana Mazzucato Mariana Francesca Mazzucato (born June 16, 1968) is an economist with dual Italian–American citizenship. She is a professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London and founding director of the UCL Institute ...

. Since 2022, she has been a member of the Commission for Universal Health convened by

Chatham House Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is an independent policy institute headquartered in London. Its stated mission is to provide commentary on world events and offer solutions to global challenges. It is ...

and co-chaired by

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

and

Jakaya Kikwete Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete (born 7 October 1950) is a Tanzanian politician who was the fourth president of Tanzania, in office from 2005 to 2015. Prior to his election as president, he was the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 2005 under his ...

Criticisms of the government

Ghosh has consistently maintained a pro-student stance. In February 2016, she accused the

NDA NDA may stand for: Military * National Defence Academy (India), a military academy in India * National Defence Act, legislation for organizing and funding Canada's military * National Defense Academy of Japan, a military academy in Japan * Nig ...

government of shutting down student protests against the capital punishment sentence to

Afzal Guru Mohammad Afzal Guru (June 1969 – 9 February 2013) was a Kashmiri separatist, who was convicted for his role in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack. He received a death sentence for his involvement, which was upheld by the Indian Supreme Co ...

. In a lecture enumerating the "anti-national policies of the NDA", she spoke about the importance of student protests and discussion, and the current government's aversion to the demand for transparency and accountability. In October 2019, Ghosh expressed her belief that the relay of policymakers who were fixed to political dogmas that discouraged more public spending was dangerous to the economy and destabilizing to society. In her co-authored book, ''Demonetisation Decoded: A critique of India’s monetary experiment,'' she criticizes the monetary decision taken by the Modi government as an ineffective and wasteful exercise. In February of 2020, Ghosh criticized the

Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

-led government for misrepresenting data in the 2020 Budget which was presented a month earlier than usual. Claiming that the government did not have data post December 2019, she declared

Nirmala Sitharaman Nirmala Sitharaman (born 18 August 1959) is an Indian economist and politician serving as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of India since 2019. She is a member of the Rajya Sabha, upper house of the Indian Parliament, since 2014. S ...

's pre-budget speech as ineffectual and inaccurate. She also emphasized the lack of attention given to the need for creation of employment in the new budget, stating that there were cuts in almost every employment-intensive sector. By withholding information that by constitutional law should be freely available to the public, she said, the Modi government was able to play caste politics.

Awards and recognitions

Ghosh was conferred International Labour Organisation's Decent Work Research Prize along with Professor Eve Landau in February 2011. Other awards include: * Conference President, Indian Society for Labour Economics, 2013. * Satyendranath Sen Award, Asiatic Society,

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, 2012. * ILO Decent Work Research Prize,

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, 2010. * NordSud Prize for Research in Social Sciences, Fondazione Pescarabruzzo, Italy, 2010. * Ava Maiti Memorial Prize,

Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is a government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the p ...

2006. *

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

Award for Excellence in Analysis, (for West Bengal Human Development Report), New York 2006.

Personal life

Ghosh is married to

Abhijit Sen Abhijit Sen (26 November 1950 – 29 August 2022) was an Indian economist who focused on studying rural development. Sen was appointed to the Planning Commission of India between 2004 and 2014 and held a number of policy making positions in I ...

, an economist who was a member of the disbanded Planning Commission.

Selected bibliography

* * Also reprinted January 2008, January 2009, July 2011. * * *Edited the forthcoming ''Economics of the New Imperialism''.

References

External links

Faculty profile
at

Profile
at National Knowledge Commission
Column archive
at ''

The Asian Age ''The Asian Age'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper with editions published in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. It also prints an "international edition" in London. It was launched in February 1994. The same publishing company also prod ...

''
Column archive
at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' *
AP implements Jayati Ghosh suggestions
''

The Hindu Business Line ''Business Line'' or ''The Hindu Business Line'' is an Indian business newspaper published by Kasturi & Sons, the publishers of the newspaper ''The Hindu'' located in Chennai, India. The newspaper covers priority industry verticals, such as Agri ...

'', 23 September 2006
Jayati Ghosh awarded ILO prize
''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'', 12 February 2011
Videos on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghosh, Jayati 1955 births Living people Bengali people Alumni of the University of Cambridge Feminist economists Indian columnists 20th-century Indian economists Indian women columnists Indian women academics Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni Jawaharlal Nehru University faculty Delhi University alumni Indian women economists 20th-century Indian women scientists Indian feminist writers 20th-century Indian women writers 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers 21st-century Indian economists 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers 21st-century Indian non-fiction writers 21st-century Indian women scientists Women writers from Delhi Scientists from Delhi People from New Delhi Women scientists from Delhi Women educators from Delhi Educators from Delhi