Abhijit Banerjee

Abhijit Banerjee, M.A., Ph.D. is an Indian-born American economist, author, and current professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is most well-known for his works on poverty alleviation and economic development, referred to as the "Banerjee-Duflo" puzzle in the economic field. Born in Kolkata, India in 1961, Banerjee is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including the Infosys Prize and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

Banerjee earned a master's degree in economics from the University of Calcutta in 1983 before completing a Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University in 1988. After graduating, he served as a lecturer of economics at Harvard, as well as a junior faculty member at the Indian Statistical Institute. He also held a consulting position at the World Bank from 1996 to 2001. In 2003, Banerjee accepted a full-time appointment at MIT as a professor of economics, a position he continues to hold to this day.

Banerjee is well-known for his work on economic development and poverty, which he has written extensively on. In particular, his famous book Poor Economics (2010) explores various elements of poverty, such as how access to credit, savings, and even sanitation can help improve overall well-being in the developing world. His work has had an immense impact, influencing the policies of many governments, NGOs and philanthropists.

Banerjee's research efforts have been widely recognized, for which he has received several awards, such as the Infosys Prize in 2009 and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2017. He has also written a number of other books on related topics, including Good Economics for Hard Times (2018) and Development Economics (2019).

Banerjee is currently the co-director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT. He is also a trained classical Indian musician and a former amateur cricket player. He currently resides in Lexington, Massachusetts with his wife, Esther Duflo, and their two children.

In his works and teachings, Banerjee seeks to demonstrate how economic theory and empirical evidence can be applied to improve the well-being of individuals and communities. He is a highly influential figure in the field of economics, and his theories have been widely applied to a variety of scenarios. His work has been highly praised for its rigor, depth, and relevance, and his dedication to the study of development and poverty has helped to improve the lives of many people around the world.