Abhijit Banerjee is an Indian-American economist who won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics.
wiki/bio
Abhijit Banerjee was born on Tuesday, February 21, 1961 in Kolkata (age 58 in 2019). His zodiac sign is Pisces.
He was educated at South Point School, Calcutta. He received his BA in Economics from Presidency College, Kolkata in 1981. He received his Master’s degree in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, in 1983. He subsequently joined Harvard University in 1988 to pursue a PhD in economics. The title of his doctoral thesis was “Thesis on Information Economics”.
Abhijit Banerjee when he was young
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′10″
Eye color: black
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
family, wife and race
Abhijit Banerjee is a Bangladeshi Indian. He comes from a family of economists. His father, Dipak Banerjee, is a professor and head of the economics department at Presidency College, Kolkata. His mother, Nirmala Banerjee, is a professor of economics at the Center for Social Sciences, Kolkata.
Abhijit Banerjee’s father Deepak Banerjee
Abhijit Banerjee’s mother Nirmala Banerjee
Abhijit Banerjee has been married twice. While he was a professor at MIT, he married his first wife, Dr. Arundhati Tuli Banerjee. They grew up together in Kolkata. However, their marriage did not last long and they divorced. They had a son, Kabir Banerjee, but around March 2016, he passed away in a tragic accident.
Abhijit Banerjee’s first wife Dr. Arundhati Tuli Banerjee
Abhijit Banerjee’s son Kabir Banerjee
In 2015, Abhijit married French-American economist Esther Duflo. She was his doctoral student and later his co-investigator. In 1999, Abhijit served as co-advisor to Esther’s PhD student in economics while she was a student at MIT. In 2012, when Abhijit gave birth to a child with Esther, Abhijit was still married to his first wife Arundhati.
Abhijit Banerjee and his second wife Esther Duflo
Profession
After completing his PhD, Abhijit taught at many prestigious institutions such as Harvard University and Princeton University. He subsequently became the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research focuses on development economics. He is best known for his field experiments, which he used as an important method for discovering cause and effect relationships in economics.
Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo conduct field experiments in India
In 2013, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Abhijit to a panel of experts tasked with updating the Millennium Development Goals. On October 14, 2019, Abhijit, along with his wife Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer (American economist), were recognized for their work in “Alleviating Global Poverty” And won the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Abhijit Banerjee wins Nobel Prize
dispute
In 1983, when Abhijit was at Jinan University, he along with other students staged a protest outside the official residence of PN Srivastava, vice-chancellor of Jinan University. The police were called and when the students resisted the officers, the students were beaten and detained. Abhijit was sent to Tihar jail along with 400 other students. However, they were released on bail ten days later and, after a year of legal and political battles, the charges against them were dropped.
books written
- Volatility and Growth (2005; Oxford University Press)
- Making Aid Work (2005; MIT Press)
- Understanding Poverty (2006; Oxford University Press)
- The Economics of Poverty: A Radical Rethinking of Fighting Global Poverty (2011; Public Affairs Books Group)
- Field Experiment Handbook, Volumes 1 and 2 (2017; Elsevier)
- A brief history of poverty measurement (2019; Juggernaut Books)
Awards, Scholarships and Honors
- Junior Research Fellow, Institute for Policy Reform, 1993
- Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 1994-96
- Funded by the National Science Foundation, 1995-98
- Member, Econometric Society, 1996
- MacArthur Foundation Costs of Inequality Project Grant, 1996-2002
- National Natural Science Foundation of China “Creativity Extension” 1998-2000
- Mahalanobis Memorial Medal, 2000, India
- Malcolm Adesecia Award, 2001
- National Science Foundation Grant “Inequality, Growth, and Trade Policy,” 2002-2006
- Distinguished Visitor, Washington University, St. Louis, 2003
- Romesh Chandra Dutt Lecturer, Center for Social Sciences, Kolkata, 2003
- National Institute on Aging grant “Health Care and Health Status in Rajasthan, India;” Sub-grant under “The Economics of Aging,” 2004 – 2009
- Kuznets Lecture, 2004, Yale University
- Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2004
- Member, Council of the Econometric Society, 2004
- IEPR Distinguished Lecture, University of Southern California, 2006
- Michael Wallerstein Award, American Political Science Association, 2006
- D. Gale Johnson Lecture, University of Chicago, 2006
- Honorary Visiting Professor, Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata, 2006
- Economic Magazine Lecture, 2007
- Albert Hirschman Lecture, 2007
- Honorary Advisor, PEO, Planning Council of India, 2008
- International Fellow at the Keele Institute, 2008
- BBVA Foundation Development Cooperation Knowledge Frontier Award, 2009
- Infosys Social Science Award, 2009
- Anaya Samman, Kolkata, 2011
- Foreign Policy magazine’s top 100 global thinkers in 2011
- Sherar Shera Bengali (Bengali Selection), 2012
- 2013 Gabarron International Economics Prize
- Albert O. Hirschman Award (Social Science Research Council), 2014
- 2014, Honorary Doctorate from the University of Leuven
- Bernhard Harms Prize (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), 2014
- Sanjaya Lall Visiting Professor, University of Oxford, Trinity Term, 2015
- Amlan Dutta Lecture, University of Calcutta, 2018
- Tanner Lecture on Human Values, University of Oxford, 2018
- Jean-Jacques Lafont Lecture, AFSE, 2018
- 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics
favorite thing
- Dessert: Bengali Sandesh decorated with rose petals
- Food: Exotic Lucknow style kebabs
fact
- After winning the Nobel Prize, Abhijit’s mother said he forgot to tell her about his achievement, but she was very proud of him. She also revealed that Abhijit not only excels in academics but is also good at sports and is also passionate about cooking.
- Although Abhijit is an American citizen, he is equally rooted in Indian culture and lifestyle.
- On March 28, 2016, following the death of his son, MIT held a special memorial service in memory of his son at the MIT Chapel.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education