Washington: The World Bank has tapped Kaushik Basu, a Cornell University professor and former Indian official, as its new chief economist and senior vice-president.
The Indian national recently served as chief economic adviser of the Indian finance ministry while on leave from Cornell. In Cornell, he was an economics professor and the C Marks Professor of International Studies.
"Kaushik is uniquely suited to help us offer evidence-based solutions and advice to client countries and provide innovative excellence in leading our development research," said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.
Basu begins his term on October 1.
Who is Kaushik Basu?
Basu, 60, holds a doctorate from the London School of Economics and founded the Centre for Development Economics at the Delhi School of Economics in 1992.
He has also served as chairman of Cornell's economics department, director of its Center for Analytic Economics, and headed the Program on Comparative Economic Development.
In May 2008 the president of India awarded Basu one of the country's highest civilian awards, the Padma Bhushan, for "distinguished service of high order."
Basu is a columnist for BBC News Online, Hindustan Times, Business Standard and is the author of several books on economics and a play, Crossings at Benaras Junction, which was published in The Little Magazine (vol. 6, 2005).
He is the editor of the Oxford Companion to Economics in India, published by Oxford University Press (February, 2007), which is a compendium on the Indian economy. His new book, Beyond the Invisible Hand: Groundwork for a New Economics, was published in 2011 by Princeton University Press and Penguin, India, and is to be published shortly in translation in Italian, Chinese and Spanish.
He also advises the Income Tax Department in its working and accompanies the Finance Minister to many seminars and conferences on tax related issues.
Basu is also the president of the Human Development and capabilities association founded by Amartya Sen which promotes high quality research in areas of human development and capability. He is the Editor of Social Choice and Welfare, Associate Editor of Japanese Economic Review and is on the Board of Editors of the 'World Bank Economic Review.
Basu is the motivation behind Arthapedia, an online portal that provide explanations to the concepts used in the Indian Policy domain to assist its understanding among citizens.
He is also the creator of the two-player board game Dui-doku.
Awards and Honors
CORE Fellow, 1981-82
The National Mahalanobis Memorial Medal, 1989
UGC-Prabhavananda Award for Economics, 1990
Fellow of the Econometric Society, 1991-Present
Padma Bhushan, Government of India, 2008
D.Litt. (Honoris Causa) for “Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Economics”, University of Lucknow, 2010.
Elected President-Elect of the Human Development and Capabilities Association.
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