Partha Dasgupta
Encyclopedia
Professor Sir Partha Sarathi Dasgupta, FRS, FBA (born November 17, 1942), is the Frank Ramsey
Professor of Economics
at the University of Cambridge
, United Kingdom
; Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge
; Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; and Professor of Environmental and Development Economics at the University of Manchester
. He was born in Dhaka
, Bangladesh
, then in India, and is the son of economist A.K. Dasgupta
. He is married to Carol Dasgupta, who is a psychotherapist. They have three children, Zubeida Dasgupta-Clark (an educational psychologist), Shamik (a philosophy professor) and Aisha (who works on reproductive health in poor countries).
and development
economics
; the economics of technological change; population, environmental, and resource economics; social capital
; the theory of games; the economics of global warming
,and the economics of malnutrition
.
in Varanasi, India, obtaining his Matriculation Degree in 1958, and pursued undergraduate studies in Physics
at the University of Delhi
, India
, graduating in 1962 and in Mathematics at Trinity College Cambridge
, graduating in 1965. He obtained a PhD in Economics at Cambridge in 1968. He completed his Phd with speed in 18 months,( only Amartya Sen has finished a Cambridge economics PhD faster) His PhD supervisor at Cambridge was Professor Sir James Mirrlees. At Cambridge he was a member of the Cambridge Apostles, an distinguished intellectual society.
During 1991-97 Dasgupta was Chairman of the (Scientific Advisory) Board of the Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm. During 1999-2009 he served as a Founder Member of the Management and Advisory Committee of the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE), based in Kathmandu. In 1996 he helped to establish the journal Environment and Development Economics, published by Cambridge University Press, whose purpose has been not only to publish original research at the interface of poverty and the environmental-resource base, but also to provide an opportunity to scholars in poor countries to publish their findings in an international journal.
Since 2008 he has been (part-time) Professor of Environmental and Development Economics at the University of Manchester
's Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI) and Brooks World Poverty Institute
(BWPI). He is also a Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large (2007–2013) at Cornell University and is currently (2010–2011) President of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE). He is a patron of Population Matters (formerly the Optimum Population Trust). In June 2011 it was announced he would join the professoriate of New College of the Humanities
, a private college in London.
Dasgupta was named Knight Bachelor by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2002 in her Birthday Honours List for services to economics; was co-recipient (with Karl Goran Maler) of the 2002 Volvo Environment Prize
; and was recipient of the John Kenneth Galbraith Award, 2007, of the American Agricultural Economics Association. In 2007, together with Erik Maskin he was awarded the Kempe Award in Environmental and Resource Economics, a joint prize of the Kempe Foundation and the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE).
He was awarded a Doctorate (Honoris Causa) by Wageningen University, 2000; Catholic University of Louvain, 2007; Faculte Universitaire Saint-Louis, 2009; and University of Bologna, 2010.
Frank P. Ramsey
Frank Plumpton Ramsey was a British mathematician who, in addition to mathematics, made significant and precocious contributions in philosophy and economics before his death at the age of 26...
Professor of Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
; Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
; Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; and Professor of Environmental and Development Economics at the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
. He was born in Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, then in India, and is the son of economist A.K. Dasgupta
A.K. Dasgupta
A.K. Dasgupta has been described as "one of the founding fathers of modern economics in India" and "a true pioneer in developmental economics".His son is the noted economist Partha Dasgupta.- Life and Education :...
. He is married to Carol Dasgupta, who is a psychotherapist. They have three children, Zubeida Dasgupta-Clark (an educational psychologist), Shamik (a philosophy professor) and Aisha (who works on reproductive health in poor countries).
Research
Research interests have covered welfareWelfare
Welfare refers to a broad discourse which may hold certain implications regarding the provision of a minimal level of wellbeing and social support for all citizens without the stigma of charity. This is termed "social solidarity"...
and development
Economic development
Economic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area...
economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
; the economics of technological change; population, environmental, and resource economics; social capital
Social capital
Social capital is a sociological concept, which refers to connections within and between social networks. The concept of social capital highlights the value of social relations and the role of cooperation and confidence to get collective or economic results. The term social capital is frequently...
; the theory of games; the economics of global warming
Economics of global warming
-Definitions:In this article, the phrase “climate change” is used to describe a change in the climate, measured in terms of its statistical properties, e.g., the global mean surface temperature. In this context, “climate” is taken to mean the average weather. Climate can change over period of time...
,and the economics of malnutrition
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....
.
Education
Dasgupta was educated in Rajghat Besant SchoolRajghat Besant School
Rajghat Besant School in Varanasi is one of the reputed resident-cum-day school of India, established in 1934 by Jiddu Krishnamurti. It is named after Dr. Annie Besant and located near Rajghat Railway Station on other side of river Ganges & Varanasi city.The school was founded and is run by...
in Varanasi, India, obtaining his Matriculation Degree in 1958, and pursued undergraduate studies in Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
at the University of Delhi
University of Delhi
The University of Delhi is a central university situated in Delhi, India and is funded by Government of India. Established in 1922, it offers courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. Vice-President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari is the Chancellor of the university...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, graduating in 1962 and in Mathematics at Trinity College Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, graduating in 1965. He obtained a PhD in Economics at Cambridge in 1968. He completed his Phd with speed in 18 months,( only Amartya Sen has finished a Cambridge economics PhD faster) His PhD supervisor at Cambridge was Professor Sir James Mirrlees. At Cambridge he was a member of the Cambridge Apostles, an distinguished intellectual society.
Teaching
Dasgupta currently lectures to undergraduate and graduate students in the Faculty of Economics at Cambridge and conducts a graduate seminar at the University of Manchester.Appointments
Dasgupta taught at the London School of Economics (Lecturer 1971-1975; Reader 1975-1978; Professor 1978-1984) and moved to the University of Cambridge in January 1985 as Professor of Economics (and Professorial Fellow of St John's College), where he served as Chairman of the Faculty of Economics in 1997-2001. During 1989-92 he was on leave from the University of Cambridge and served as Professor of Economics, Professor of Philosophy, and Director of the Program in Ethics in Society at Stanford University. In October 1991 he returned to Cambridge, on leave from Stanford University, to reassume his Chair at Cambridge. He resigned from Stanford in 1992 and has remained in Cambridge since then.During 1991-97 Dasgupta was Chairman of the (Scientific Advisory) Board of the Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm. During 1999-2009 he served as a Founder Member of the Management and Advisory Committee of the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE), based in Kathmandu. In 1996 he helped to establish the journal Environment and Development Economics, published by Cambridge University Press, whose purpose has been not only to publish original research at the interface of poverty and the environmental-resource base, but also to provide an opportunity to scholars in poor countries to publish their findings in an international journal.
Since 2008 he has been (part-time) Professor of Environmental and Development Economics at the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
's Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI) and Brooks World Poverty Institute
Brooks World Poverty Institute
The Brooks World Poverty Institute is a research centre connected to the University of Manchester dedicated to multidisciplinary research on poverty, inequality and growth. It was created in 2005 following the donation of £1.3 million to the university by the Rory and Elizabeth Brooks Foundation,...
(BWPI). He is also a Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large (2007–2013) at Cornell University and is currently (2010–2011) President of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE). He is a patron of Population Matters (formerly the Optimum Population Trust). In June 2011 it was announced he would join the professoriate of New College of the Humanities
New College of the Humanities
New College of the Humanities is a proposed new private for-profit undergraduate college in London, England, the creation of which was announced in June 2011 by the philosopher A.C. Grayling, its founder and first master...
, a private college in London.
Honours
Dasgupta has been honoured by elections as: Fellow of the Econometric Society (1975); Fellow of the British Academy (1989); Fellow of the Royal Society (2004); Member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (1997); Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), 2001; Member of Academia Europaea (2009); Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1991); Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1991); Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences (2001); Foreign Member of the American Philosophical Society (2005); Foreign Member of Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere Arti (2009); Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics (1995); Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge (2010); Honorary Member of the American Economic Association (1997); and President of the Royal Economic Society (1998–2001), the European Economic Association (1999), and Section F (Economics) of the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) Festival of Science (2006).Dasgupta was named Knight Bachelor by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2002 in her Birthday Honours List for services to economics; was co-recipient (with Karl Goran Maler) of the 2002 Volvo Environment Prize
Volvo Environment Prize
Volvo Environment Prize is an annual international award originating in Sweden. The prize is awarded to individuals who explore the way to a sustainable world...
; and was recipient of the John Kenneth Galbraith Award, 2007, of the American Agricultural Economics Association. In 2007, together with Erik Maskin he was awarded the Kempe Award in Environmental and Resource Economics, a joint prize of the Kempe Foundation and the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE).
He was awarded a Doctorate (Honoris Causa) by Wageningen University, 2000; Catholic University of Louvain, 2007; Faculte Universitaire Saint-Louis, 2009; and University of Bologna, 2010.
Selected publications
- "Guidelines for Project Evaluation (with S.A. Marglin and A.K. Sen), United Nations, 1972.
- "Economic Theory and Exhaustible Resources" (with G.M. Heal), Cambridge University Press, 1979.
- The Control of Resources, Harvard University PressHarvard University PressHarvard University Press is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. In 2005, it published 220 new titles. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. Its current director is William P...
, 1982.
- An Inquiry into Well-Being and Destitution. Oxford: Clarendon, 1993. Partha Dasgupta (1993). An Inquiry into Well-Being and Destitution. (Pub. description)
- Social Capital: A Multifaceted Perspective (co-editor with Ismail Serageldin). Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2000. * (book preview except pp. 217–401, 403-25)
- Human Well-Being and the Natural Environment. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, Rev. ed. 2004.
- Economics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. (OUP Website)