Indian American economist Abhijit Banerjee has been conferred with the Tagore Prize for Social Achievement 2023 at the sixth Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize, event hosted by India International Centre in New Delhi.
The prize is in recognition of his contributions to social welfare. Along with Banerjee, Sukrita Paul Kumar, poet, critic and translator, won the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize.
Expressing gratitude for the honor, Banerjee said, “Being awarded the Tagore Prize for Social Achievement is a profound honor. This recognition underlines the importance of addressing societal issues and underscores the impact of collective efforts in shaping a better world.”
Currently the Ford Foundation International professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Banerjee shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer in 2019.
The 62-year-old Mumbai-born economist earned a Bsc honors degree in economics from the Presidency College in 1981; a masters’ from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; and a PhD from Harvard University. In 2011, he featured among Foreign Policy magazine’s top 100 global thinkers.
Banerjee was a Guggenheim Fellow and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow. His work focuses on development economics. In 2003, he founded a global research center Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). He has also taught at the Harvard and Princeton University.
Copenhagen-based Peter Bundalo, founder of Maitreya Publishing Foundation, and part of the Tagore awarding committee, remarked, “Abhijit Banerjee and Sukrita Paul Kumar embody mastery in their respective fields, enriching our world with their distinct visions and contributions.”
