French Economist Esther Duflo Named On Tamil Nadu's Economic Advisory Council

Esther Duflo, Nobel Laureate economist and professor, has been named on Tamil Nadu's new economic advisory council, state governor Banwarilal Purohit said Monday.

Besides Duflo, the only female name, the council includes field experts Raghuram Rajan, Dr Arvind Subramanian, Jean Dreze, and Dr S Narayan. The council to Chief Minister MK Stalin will assist in reshaping and revitalising economic policies for the ruling DMK government.

"This government is determined to transform Tamil Nadu into a State with a society with self-respect, with an empowered citizenry enjoying their rights and which is prosperous in all respects, as envisioned by Thanthai Periyar," Purohit said during the first session of the 16th Assembly in Chennai.

Who Is Esther Duflo? A Look At The Noted Economist's Works

Esther Duflo is a French-American professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she also co-founded the research centre Poverty Action Lab in 2003. She is on the committees of several American and European entities working on policy design and development economics.

Among the top cited authors on college economics syllabi, Duflo is prominent for her focused research on poverty alleviation through an experimental approach that establishes causal relationships; a significant part of her studies concentrates on India and microeconomic issues.

Duflo is married to Indian-origin economist Abhijit Banerjee with whom she shared her 2019 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The couple has been engaged in Indian economic policy for years and has co-authored the title Poor Economics together.