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{{short description|Economist}}
{{Short description|Indian-American development economist (1931–2023)}}
{{Infobox person
{{Use American English|date=May 2023}}
| name       = Padma Desai
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2023}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1931|10|12|mf=y}}
{{Infobox academic
| birth_place = Surat, Gujarat, India
| name = Padma Desai
| image = Падма Десаи (23-06-2015) (cropped).png
| birth_date = {{birth date|1931|10|12}}
| birth_place = [[Surat]], [[Bombay Presidency]], British India
| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|04|29|1931|10|12}}
| death_place =
| spouse = [[Jagdish Bhagwati]]
| spouse = [[Jagdish Bhagwati]]
| known_for   =  
| known_for =  
| occupation  = Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of [[comparative economic systems]], [[Columbia University]] (1992-present)
| discipline = [[Development economics]]
| workplaces = [[Columbia University]] (1992–2023)
| alma_mater = {{plainlist|
* [[University of Mumbai]] (BA, MA)
* [[Harvard University]] (PhD)
}}
| citizenship = {{flatlist|
* India
* United States
}}
| awards = [[Padma Bhushan]] (2009)
| influences = {{flatlist|
* [[Alexander Gerschenkron]]
* [[Robert Solow]]
}}
| children = 1
| caption = Desai in 2015
}}
}}


'''Padma Desai''' (born October 12, 1931) is an India-born, [[Naturalization|naturalized]] American, [[development economist]] and a [[Russia]]-specialist.  She is the Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor Emerita of [[comparative economic systems]] and has been the director of the Center for Transition Economies at the [[Columbia University]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Padma Desai |url=http://econ.columbia.edu/padma-desai |publisher=Department of Economics, [[Columbia University]] }}</ref>
'''Padma Desai''' (October 12, 1931 – April 29, 2023) was an Indian-American [[development economist]] who was the Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of [[comparative economic systems]] and director of the Center for Transition Economies at [[Columbia University]]. Known for her scholarship on Soviet and Indian [[industrial policy]], she was awarded the [[Padma Bhushan]] in 2009.


She was awarded the [[Padma Bhushan]] by the [[Government of India]] in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|title=Padma Awards Directory (1954-2009)|publisher=[[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|Ministry of Home Affairs]]|url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510095705/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf|archive-date=2013-05-10}}</ref>
==Early life==
Desai was born in [[Surat]], Bombay Presidency, British India<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] -->, on October 12, 1931,<ref name=Desai2012>{{Cite book |last=Desai |first=Padma |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IQ7bAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA64|title=Breaking Out: An Indian Woman's American Journey |date=2012 |publisher=MIT Press|location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-262-01997-2 |language=en|chapter=4. Childhood and adolescence|pages=x, 64}}</ref> into a Gujarati [[Anavil Brahmin]] family. Her parents, Shanta and Kalidas, were literature professors who were educated at the University of Cambridge.<ref name=":0" /> She had three siblings.<ref name=":0" />


==Early life and education==
Desai completed her B.A. (Economics) in 1951 from the [[University of Mumbai]], followed by an M.A. (Economics) also from the same university in 1953. Thereafter, she completed her Ph.D. from [[Harvard]] in 1960.<ref name=cir>{{cite web |title=Curriculum Vitae of Padma Desai |url=http://www.columbia.edu/~pd5/Padma%20Desai%20CV%20February%202011.pdf |publisher=[[Columbia University]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125072202/http://www.columbia.edu/~pd5/Padma%20Desai%20CV%20February%202011.pdf |archive-date=January 25, 2012 }}</ref> At [[Harvard University]], she was influenced by economists [[Alexander Gerschenkron]] and [[Robert Solow]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=May 6, 2023 |title=Padma Desai, economist, 1931–2023 |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/f7da279a-28e6-455d-9036-69973921c113}}</ref> She was a fellow of the [[American Association of University Women]] while pursuing her Ph.D. at Harvard.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 5, 2023 |title=Padma Desai (1931–2023): Influential academic, a thinker ahead of her times |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/padma-desai-1931-2023-influential-academic-a-thinker-ahead-of-her-times-8592209/ |access-date=May 7, 2023 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref>
Desai was born and brought up in a traditional Gujarati [[Anavil Brahmin]] family in [[Surat]], Gujarat.


She did her B.A. (Economics) in 1951 from the [[University of Mumbai]], followed by an M.A. (Economics) also from the same university in 1953. Thereafter she completed her Ph.D. from [[Harvard]] in 1960.<ref name=cir>{{cite web |title=Curriculum Vitae of Padma Desai |url=http://www.columbia.edu/~pd5/Padma%20Desai%20CV%20February%202011.pdf |publisher=[[Columbia University]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125072202/http://www.columbia.edu/~pd5/Padma%20Desai%20CV%20February%202011.pdf |archive-date=2012-01-25 }}</ref>
==Career==
Desai started her career at the Department of Economics, Harvard (1957–1959), after which she was associate professor of economics at [[Delhi School of Economics]] at [[University of Delhi]], from 1959 to 1968.<ref name=cir/>


==Career==
Desai's 1968 book ''India: Planning for Industrialization,'' which was co-written with her future husband and economist [[Jagdish Bhagwati]] was an influential critique of India's industrial planning system.<ref name=":0" /> The work influenced subsequent [[economic liberalisation in India]].<ref name=":0" /> The book spoke against the [[Licence Raj|licence regime]] and the [[Planned economy|command economic policies]] that were prevalent in India at the time.<ref name=":0"/>
Desai started her career at the Department of Economics, Harvard (1957-1959), after which she was associate professor of economics at [[Delhi School of Economics]] at [[University of Delhi]], from 1959 to 1968.<ref name=cir/>
 
Desai joined Columbia University as a professor of economics in 1980.<ref name=":0" /> In November 1992, she became Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Comparative Economic Systems at Columbia University and went on to become the director of the Center for Transition Economies at the university.<ref name=cir/><ref>{{cite web |title=Padma Desai |url=http://econ.columbia.edu/padma-desai |publisher=Department of Economics, [[Columbia University]]  }}</ref>


In November 1992, she joined as the Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Comparative Economic Systems at Columbia University and went on to become the director of the Center for Transition Economies at the University.<ref name=cir/>
Desai's research included studying the [[Soviet economic history|Soviet economy]], specifically studying the [[command economies]] and the misallocation of resources therein. She built on the studies of economists [[Alexander Gerschenkron]] and [[Robert Solow]], studying the decelerating growth rates in the Soviet economies, separating the contributions from technology led productivity gains and capital led growth. In her book ''Perestroika in Progress'' (1989) she studied the misallocation of resources in command economies and the resulting damages and losses across sectors.<ref name=":0"/> She continued to study the Russian economy after the [[Soviet dissolution]] and trained US policymakers and continued to speak on Russian economic policies.<ref name=":0"/> She was the [[U.S. Treasury]]'s advisor to the [[Ministry of Finance (Russia)|Russian Finance Ministry]] in the summer of 1995.<ref name=":3" />


She later remained the [[U.S. Treasury]]’s advisor to the [[Ministry of Finance (Russia)|Russian Finance Ministry]] in the summer of 1995. She was president of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies in 2001.
Desai was president of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies in 2001.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Padma Desai |url=https://www.americanacademy.de/person/padma-desai/ |access-date=May 6, 2023 |website=American Academy |language=en-US}}</ref> She was awarded the [[Padma Bhushan]], India's third highest civilian honor, by the [[Government of India]] in 2009.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=Padma Awards Directory (1954–2009) |url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510095705/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf |archive-date=May 10, 2013 |publisher=[[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|Ministry of Home Affairs]]}}</ref>


She published her memoir, ''Breaking Out: An Indian Woman's American Journey'' in 2012.<ref>{{cite news |title=Random truths in common things |url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/books/article3384137.ece |publisher=[[Business Line]] |date=May 4, 2012 }}
Desai published her memoir, ''Breaking Out: An Indian Woman's American Journey'' in 2012.<ref>{{cite news |title=Random truths in common things |url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/books/article3384137.ece |publisher=[[Business Line]] |date=May 4, 2012 }}</ref> The book spoke about her journey from India to America, breaking out of an emotionally abusive marriage, and establishing herself as an economist studying many shacked economies.<ref name=":0"/>
</ref>


==Personal life==
==Personal life==
She is married to [[Jagdish Bhagwati]], also an Indian-American economist and professor of economics and law at Columbia University; the couple have one daughter.
[[File:Jagdish Bhagwati and Padma Desai (Columbia University) (7204981944) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Padma Desai with husband [[Jagdish Bhagwati]] in 2012]]
Desai was married to [[Jagdish Bhagwati]], also an Indian-American economist and professor of economics and law at Columbia University; the couple had one daughter. She first befriended him in 1956.<ref name=":0" /> They were both faculty members at the Delhi School of Economics in the 1960s.<ref name=":0" /> The two attempted to get married but restrictive divorce laws in India prevented Desai from divorcing her first husband until 1969 when she converted to Christianity (religious conversion was grounds for divorce in India).<ref name=":0" /> Bhagwati and Desai married in Mexico.<ref name=":0" />
 
Desai died on April 29, 2023, at age 91.<ref>{{Cite web |title=In Memoriam: Padma Desai (1931–2023) |url=https://harriman.columbia.edu/in-memoriam-padma-desai-1931-2023/ |access-date=May 1, 2023 |website=The Harriman Institute |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=May 5, 2023 |title=Padma Desai (1931–2023): Influential academic, a thinker ahead of her times |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/padma-desai-1931-2023-influential-academic-a-thinker-ahead-of-her-times-8592209/ |access-date=May 5, 2023 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref>


==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
* ''Breaking Out: An Indian Woman's American Journey''. Viking, 2012. {{ISBN|9780670085781}}.
* ''Breaking Out: An Indian Woman's American Journey''. Viking, 2012. {{ISBN|9780670085781}}.
* ''From Financial Crisis to Global Recovery''. Harper Collins, 2012. {{ISBN|9789350295823}}.
* ''From Financial Crisis to Global Recovery''. HarperCollins, 2012. {{ISBN|9789350295823}}.
* ''Conversations on Russia: Reform from Yeltsin to Putin''. Oxford University Press, 2006. {{ISBN|9780195300611}}.
* ''Conversations on Russia: Reform from Yeltsin to Putin''. Oxford University Press, 2006. {{ISBN|9780195300611}}.
* ''Financial Crisis, Contagion, and Containment: From Asia to Argentina''. Princeton University Press, 2003. {{ISBN|9780691113920}}.
* ''Financial Crisis, Contagion, and Containment: From Asia to Argentina''. Princeton University Press, 2003. {{ISBN|9780691113920}}.
Line 41: Line 66:
* ''Perestroika in Perspective: The Design and Dilemmas of Soviet Reform''. I B Tauris & Co, 1989. {{ISBN|9781850431411}}.
* ''Perestroika in Perspective: The Design and Dilemmas of Soviet Reform''. I B Tauris & Co, 1989. {{ISBN|9781850431411}}.
* ''Bokaro Steel Plant: A Study of Soviet Economic Assistance''. North-Holland, 1972. {{ISBN|9780720430653}}.
* ''Bokaro Steel Plant: A Study of Soviet Economic Assistance''. North-Holland, 1972. {{ISBN|9780720430653}}.
* ''India: Planning for Industrialization'' (with Jagdish Bhagwati). 1968. {{ISBN|9780192153340}}


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}
* [http://www.columbia.edu/~pd5/desai.pdf Celebrating Padma Desai] [[Columbia University]]


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.columbia.edu/~pd5/ Padma Desai, homepage] at [[Columbia University]]
* [http://www.columbia.edu/~pd5/ Padma Desai homepage] at [[Columbia University]]
* {{cite web |title=The Examined Life |url=http://www.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=hub230612Examined.asp |date=23 June 2012 |publisher=[[Tehelka]] Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 25}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Divakaruni |first=Chitra Banerjee |date=June 23, 2012 |title=The Examined Life |url=http://www.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=hub230612Examined.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029021151/http://www.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=hub230612Examined.asp |archive-date=October 29, 2012 |url-status=dead |magazine=[[Tehelka]] |volume=9 |issue=25}}
* [http://www.columbia.edu/~pd5/desai.pdf Celebrating Padma Desai] – [[Columbia University]] (PDF)


{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2000–09}}
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2000–09}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Desai, Padma}}
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[[Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:Indian development economists]]
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[[Category:University of Mumbai alumni]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Indian women economists]]
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[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education]]
[[Category:Russian studies scholars]]
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[[Category:University of Delhi faculty]]
[[Category:Columbia University faculty]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education]]
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[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
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[[Category:Women educators from Gujarat]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian writers]]

Latest revision as of 19:51, 1 June 2025


Padma Desai
Desai in 2015
Born(1931-10-12)October 12, 1931
Surat, Bombay Presidency, British India
DiedApril 29, 2023(2023-04-29) (aged 91)
Citizenship
  • India
  • United States
Spouse(s)Jagdish Bhagwati
Children1
AwardsPadma Bhushan (2009)
Academic background
Alma mater
Influences
Academic work
DisciplineDevelopment economics
InstitutionsColumbia University (1992–2023)

Padma Desai (October 12, 1931 – April 29, 2023) was an Indian-American development economist who was the Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of comparative economic systems and director of the Center for Transition Economies at Columbia University. Known for her scholarship on Soviet and Indian industrial policy, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2009.

Early life[edit | edit source]

Desai was born in Surat, Bombay Presidency, British India, on October 12, 1931,[1] into a Gujarati Anavil Brahmin family. Her parents, Shanta and Kalidas, were literature professors who were educated at the University of Cambridge.[2] She had three siblings.[2]

Desai completed her B.A. (Economics) in 1951 from the University of Mumbai, followed by an M.A. (Economics) also from the same university in 1953. Thereafter, she completed her Ph.D. from Harvard in 1960.[3] At Harvard University, she was influenced by economists Alexander Gerschenkron and Robert Solow.[2] She was a fellow of the American Association of University Women while pursuing her Ph.D. at Harvard.[4]

Career[edit | edit source]

Desai started her career at the Department of Economics, Harvard (1957–1959), after which she was associate professor of economics at Delhi School of Economics at University of Delhi, from 1959 to 1968.[3]

Desai's 1968 book India: Planning for Industrialization, which was co-written with her future husband and economist Jagdish Bhagwati was an influential critique of India's industrial planning system.[2] The work influenced subsequent economic liberalisation in India.[2] The book spoke against the licence regime and the command economic policies that were prevalent in India at the time.[2]

Desai joined Columbia University as a professor of economics in 1980.[2] In November 1992, she became Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Comparative Economic Systems at Columbia University and went on to become the director of the Center for Transition Economies at the university.[3][5]

Desai's research included studying the Soviet economy, specifically studying the command economies and the misallocation of resources therein. She built on the studies of economists Alexander Gerschenkron and Robert Solow, studying the decelerating growth rates in the Soviet economies, separating the contributions from technology led productivity gains and capital led growth. In her book Perestroika in Progress (1989) she studied the misallocation of resources in command economies and the resulting damages and losses across sectors.[2] She continued to study the Russian economy after the Soviet dissolution and trained US policymakers and continued to speak on Russian economic policies.[2] She was the U.S. Treasury's advisor to the Russian Finance Ministry in the summer of 1995.[6]

Desai was president of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies in 2001.[6] She was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honor, by the Government of India in 2009.[7]

Desai published her memoir, Breaking Out: An Indian Woman's American Journey in 2012.[8] The book spoke about her journey from India to America, breaking out of an emotionally abusive marriage, and establishing herself as an economist studying many shacked economies.[2]

Personal life[edit | edit source]

Padma Desai with husband Jagdish Bhagwati in 2012

Desai was married to Jagdish Bhagwati, also an Indian-American economist and professor of economics and law at Columbia University; the couple had one daughter. She first befriended him in 1956.[2] They were both faculty members at the Delhi School of Economics in the 1960s.[2] The two attempted to get married but restrictive divorce laws in India prevented Desai from divorcing her first husband until 1969 when she converted to Christianity (religious conversion was grounds for divorce in India).[2] Bhagwati and Desai married in Mexico.[2]

Desai died on April 29, 2023, at age 91.[9][10]

Bibliography[edit | edit source]

  • Breaking Out: An Indian Woman's American Journey. Viking, 2012. ISBN 9780670085781.
  • From Financial Crisis to Global Recovery. HarperCollins, 2012. ISBN 9789350295823.
  • Conversations on Russia: Reform from Yeltsin to Putin. Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 9780195300611.
  • Financial Crisis, Contagion, and Containment: From Asia to Argentina. Princeton University Press, 2003. ISBN 9780691113920.
  • Work Without Wages: Russia's Non-Payment Crisis, with Todd Idson. MIT Press, 2001. ISBN 9780262041843.
  • Going Global: Transition from Plan to Market in the World Economy, Editor. MIT Press, 1997. ISBN 9780262041614.
  • The Soviet Economy: Problems and Prospects. Blackwell, 1990. ISBN 9780631171836
  • Perestroika in Perspective: The Design and Dilemmas of Soviet Reform. I B Tauris & Co, 1989. ISBN 9781850431411.
  • Bokaro Steel Plant: A Study of Soviet Economic Assistance. North-Holland, 1972. ISBN 9780720430653.
  • India: Planning for Industrialization (with Jagdish Bhagwati). 1968. ISBN 9780192153340

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Desai, Padma (2012). "4. Childhood and adolescence". Breaking Out: An Indian Woman's American Journey. Cambridge: MIT Press. pp. x, 64. ISBN 978-0-262-01997-2.
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 "Padma Desai, economist, 1931–2023". Financial Times. May 6, 2023.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Curriculum Vitae of Padma Desai" (PDF). Columbia University. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 25, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Padma Desai (1931–2023): Influential academic, a thinker ahead of her times". The Indian Express. May 5, 2023. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Padma Desai". Department of Economics, Columbia University.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Padma Desai". American Academy. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Padma Awards Directory (1954–2009)" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 10, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Random truths in common things". Business Line. May 4, 2012.
  9. ↑ "In Memoriam: Padma Desai (1931–2023)". The Harriman Institute. Retrieved May 1, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Padma Desai (1931–2023): Influential academic, a thinker ahead of her times". The Indian Express. May 5, 2023. Retrieved May 5, 2023.

External links[edit | edit source]

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