Basu is a Padma Bhushan recipient.
Former Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank Kaushik Basu has officially commenced his three-year term as the president of International Economic Association (IEA) on June 23.
Basu, who is a C. Marks Professor of International Studies and Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, has also served as Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India.
A Padma Bhushan awardee, Basu’s contribution spans from development economics, welfare economics, industrial organization and game theory.
In addition to Cornell, he has taught at the Delhi School of Economics, Harvard, Princeton, and MIT.
He has published widely in academic journals and has contributed articles to many widely read magazines and newspapers.
Basu has written several books including ‘Beyond the Invisible Hand: Groundwork for a New Economics (Princeton University Press and Penguin); and An Economist in the Real World: the Art of Policymaking in India (MIT Press).
Basu holds a Ph.D. in economics from the London School of Economics. He has received honorary doctorates from several institutes, including IIT, Mumbai, and Fordham University, New York.
Founded in 1950, IEA is a leading organization for economists and aims to shape global economic policy and research. Past presidents of IEA include Nobel laureates such as Kenneth Arrow, Robert Solow, Amartya Sen, and Joseph Stiglitz.
Basu took over as the president of IEA during the recently concluded 18th World Congress in Mexico, at which he spoke along with Cornell’s Ravi Kanbur, T.H. Lee Professor of World Affairs, International Professor of Applied Economics and Management and Professor of Economics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; and Michael Waldman, Charles H. Dyson Professor of Management and Professor of Economics in the College of Business. Cornell alumni were also well represented, including James Foster MA ’81, PhD ‘82, Oliver T. Carr Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Economics at George Washington University, and Luis-Felipe Lopez-Calva MA ‘99 of the World Bank.
Basu received his bachelor’s degree in economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, and a master’s degree in science in 1974 and a doctorate in 1976, both in economics from the London School of Economics.
A Fellow of the Econometric Society, Basu has published widely in the areas of development economics, industrial organization, game theory, and welfare economics.
His books include Analytical Development Economics (1997, MIT Press), Prelude to Political Economy: A Study of the Social and Political Foundations of Economics (2000, Oxford University Press),  Beyond the Invisible Hand: Groundwork for a New Economics (2010, Princeton University Press) and An Economist in the Real World: The Art of Policymaking in India (2015, The MIT Press).