Mrinal Datta-Chaudhuri | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1934-01-04)4 January 1934 |
| Died | 19 May 2015(2015-05-19) (aged 81) Pune,Maharashtra, India |
| Other names | MDC |
| Alma mater | Presidency University, Kolkata MIT |
| Occupations | Theoretical economist Writer Academic |
| Years active | 1966–2008 |
| Known for | Academics in Economics Writings |
| Awards | Padma Bhushan |
Mrinal Datta-Chaudhuri (1934–2015), popularly known asMDC,[1] was an Indian theoretical economist, academic and a professor of theDelhi School of Economics.[2] He was a member of theInstitute for Advanced Study, Princeton.[3] The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of thePadma Bhushan, in 2005, for his contributions to literature and education.[4]
Mrinal Datta-Chaudhuri was born on 4 January 1935 at Srigauri, a small village inCachar, Assam, in East Bengal of theBritish India.[5] He did his college education atShantiniketan where he studied withAmartya Sen, who later won theNobel Prize for economics, andSukhamoy Chakraborty.[6] He completed his post graduate education atPresidency College, Calcutta.[2] Receiving a full-paid scholarship to pursue his doctoral studies atMassachusetts Institute of Technology, he studied under the guidance ofPaul Samuelson, the first American Nobel Laureate in Economics who was later described by theNew York Times as theforemost academic economist of the 20th century.[7] The stint at MIT also gave him opportunity to study under Nobel Prize winners such asRobert Solow,Franco Modigliani andKenneth Arrow and mingle withJoseph Stiglitz andGeorge Akerlof, who would also go on to win Nobel Prize later.[8]
Datta-Chaudhuri secured his PhD in economics in 1966 and returned to India the same year to start his career at theIndian Statistical Institute[9] to work for the next two years there as well as atJadavpur University. He moved toDelhi School of Economics in 1968, reportedly on invitation fromK. N. Raj,[8] the author of the introductory chapter of the firstFive Year Plan of India,[10] as a professor of Economics and worked there until his superannuation in 1999.[5] During this period, he served as the Head of the Department of Economics from 1974 to 1977 and as the director of the institution from 1986 to 1991. He also served as a visiting professor atUniversity of California, Berkeley,University of Minnesota andHarvard University.[5]
Datta-Chaudhuri, a member of theInstitute for Advanced Study, Princeton,[3] was credited with several articles[11][12][13][14] which includedMarket Failures and Government Failures published in theJournal of Economic Perspectives (1990)[15] and contributions to texts such as the 75-page chapter onInterindustry Planning Models for a Multiregional Economy in the bookEconomy-wide models and development planning.[16] He co-wrote one book,Regional Development Experiences and Prospects in South and Southeast Asia[17] with Louis Lefeber and edited another,Development and Change: Essays in Honour of K. N. Raj.[18] He had close association withManmohan Singh and when the latter became the Finance Minister of India in 1991 during theeconomic crisis, Datta-Chaudhuri assisted him in the formulation of many policy decisions and remained a member of the unofficial think-tank during Singh's tenancy as the Finance Minister and later, as the Prime Minister.[2] The Government of India awarded him the civilian honor of thePadma Bhushan in 2005.[4]
Towards the later days of his life, he hadchronic obstructive pulmonary disease and moved toPune to stay with his brother, Malay Dutta Choudhury.[19] He died, aged 82, on 19 May 2015 reportedly due to cardiac arrest, at his brother's residence,[20] survived by two sons from his second marriage, Timir Datta-Chaudhuri and Mihir Datta-Chaudhuri, his first wife had predeceased him.[21]
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