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The Lord Desai | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theHouse of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| In office 5 June 1991 – 29 July 2025 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Meghnad Jagdishchandra Desai (1940-07-10)10 July 1940 |
| Died | 29 July 2025(2025-07-29) (aged 85) London, England |
| Citizenship | Born and raised in India;naturalised British |
| Spouse | |
| Alma mater | University of Mumbai University of Pennsylvania |
| Occupation | Economist, politician |
Meghnad Jagdishchandra Desai, Baron Desai (10 July 1940 – 29 July 2025) was an Indian-born British economist andLabour politician.
Desai stood unsuccessfully for the position ofLord Speaker in theHouse of Lords in 2011.[1] He was awarded thePadma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in theRepublic of India, in 2008.[2]
Born inVadodara,Baroda State,British Raj (now inGujarat) on 10 July 1940,[3] Desai grew up with two brothers and one sister. He is said to have gone to secondary school at age seven and matriculated at 14. He secured a bachelor's degree in economics fromRamnarain Ruia College, affiliated with theUniversity of Mumbai, and then pursued a master's degree in economics from the Department of Economics (now called the Mumbai School of Economics and Public Policy) of the University of Mumbai, after which he won a scholarship to theUniversity of Pennsylvania in August 1960. He completed his PhD in economics at Pennsylvania in 1963.
Desai was active in the British Labour Party, becoming chairman ofIslington South and FinsburyConstituency Labour Party in London between 1986 and 1992, and later its honorary Lifetime President. He was created alife peer asBaron Desai,ofSt Clement Danes in theCity of Westminster, on 5 June 1991.[4] He was a member ofLabour Friends of Israel.[5] Desai quit his Labour Party membership of 49 years over antisemitism concerns in November 2020, following the readmission of former party LeaderJeremy Corbyn as a member.[6]
Early in his career, Desai worked as an Associate Specialist in the Department of Agricultural Economics,University of California, Berkeley, California. He became a lecturer at theLondon School of Economics in 1965 and professor of economics in 1983. At the LSE, he taughteconometrics,macroeconomics,Marxian economics anddevelopment economics over the years.[7] In the 1970s, he taught an idiosyncratic version of economic principles to freshers at the LSE (starting withPiero Sraffa). From 1990 to 1995, he headed LSE’s Development Studies Institute and led LSE Global Governance from 1992 to 2003, the year of his retirement.[7]
Desai wrote his first bookMarxian Economic Theory in 1973[8] followed byApplied Econometrics in 1976 andMarxian Economics, a revised edition of his 1973 book in 1979. He wroteTesting Monetarism, a critique ofmonetarism, in 1981.
Desai wrote extensively publishing over 200 articles in academic journals and had a regular column in the British radical weeklyTribune during 1985–1994, in the Indian business dailyBusiness Standard (1995–2001) and inIndian Express andFinancial Express. From 1984 to 1991, he was co-editor of theJournal of AppliedEconometrics. A selection of his academic papers was published in two volumes asThe Selected Essays of Meghnad Desai in 1995.
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In 2002, Desai's bookMarx's Revenge: The Resurgence of Capitalism and the Death of Statist Socialism stated thatglobalisation would tend toward the revival of socialism. Desai analysed some of Marx's lesser known writings and argued that his theories enhance our understanding of modern capitalism and globalization. His work was well received, withThe Guardian stating 'If only socialists had studied Marx properly, they would have known all along that capitalism would triumph. Meghnad Desai gets behind the slogans in Marx's Revenge'.
Desai also published a biography of Indian film starDilip Kumar entitledNehru's Hero: Dilip Kumar in the life of India (Roli, 2004). He described the book as his "greatest achievement". Examining Kumar's films – some of which Desai saw more than 15 times – he discovered parallels between the socio-political arena in India and its reflection on screen. He discussed issues as varied as censorship, the iconic values of Indianmachismo,cultural identity andsecularism, and analysed how the films portrayed a changing India at that time.
He was (2023) chairman of theOfficial Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) Advisory Board, an independent membership-driven research network.[9] It focuses on global policy and investment themes for off the record public and private sector engagement and analysis. He was also chairman of the Trustee's Board for Training for Life, Chairman of the Management Board of City Roads and on the Board ofTribune magazine.
After retirement he publishedRethinking Islamism: Ideology of the New Terror (2006),The Route to All Evil: The Political Economy ofEzra Pound (2007), a novelDead on Time, (2009) andThe Rediscovery of India (2009).
Lord Desai served as the founder chairman of the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics in Mumbai (MDAE).[10] MDAE offers a one-year post-graduate diploma in economics, offered jointly with Department of Economics (Autonomous), University of Mumbai. MDAE focuses on applied learning and case studies rather than on rote learning. Students participate in workshops and seminars with top economics and finance professionals from around the world.[11]
In 2007, Desai was asked by the University of London to serve with Tony McGrew of theUniversity of Southampton as one of the two examiners of the PhD thesis ofSaif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the then leader of Libya. They did not immediately accept the thesis, as it was found to be weak. The candidate was subjected to an oral examination for two and a half hours and Gaddafi was asked to revise and re-submit it.[12] The revised version was subsequently accepted.
As Desai had already retired from the LSE he had no involvement with the donation from Saif Gaddafi's charity to the LSE.[13] Learning from the press of these links between LSE and Libya, Desai demanded that the money be returned to the people ofLibya.[14] He expressed disappointment at a speech Saif Gaddafi subsequently made on Libyan state television declaring the Gaddafi family's willingness to "fight to the last bullet", observing that "he was not behaving as if he had had an LSE education."[15]
In 1970, Desai married his LSE colleague Gail Wilson, his first wife. She was the daughter ofGeorge Ambler Wilson,CBE. They had three children.[citation needed]
During the course of writingNehru's Hero, Desai met Kishwar Ahluwalia (nowKishwar Desai), his second wife who worked as an editor for this book. On 20 July 2004 the couple married. Desai and 47-year-old Ahluwalia were both divorced and married at a registrar's office inLondon.[16]
Desai was anatheist,[17] being an Honorary Associate of theNational Secular Society and a member ofHumanists UK.[18] He was a member of and an adviser tothe 1928 Institute.[19]
Desai died on 29 July 2025, at the age of 85.[20][3]
Literary criticism and novels
Autobiography
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