Eric J. Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, University of Chicago and Former Chief Economist - International Monetary Fund
Raghuram G. Rajan served as Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund between 2003 and 2006. His major research focus is on economic growth, and the role finance plays in it. Rajan believes there is no issue with greater urgency or moral imperative than economic development. As for his students, he hopes they walk away with "a greater awareness of the world they live in. And in a small way," he says, "I want to help them reflect on how they can make it better."
He has been a visiting professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Economics Department and Sloan School of Management, as well as the Stockholm School of Economics. He also has worked as a consultant for the Indian Finance Ministry, World Bank, Federal Reserve Board, Swedish Parliamentary Commission, and various financial institutions. His practical experience gives him a better understanding of what is economically important and what is not.
Rajan is the author, along with fellow Chicago Booth faculty member Luigi Zingales, of the book, Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists. Reearch papers he has authored include: "Foreign Capital and Economic Growth" published in 2006 in the Proceedings of the Jackson Hole Conference organized by the Kansas City Fed; "Does Aid Affect Governance?" written with Arvind Subramanian that will appear in the American Economic Review; "Modernizing China's Growth Paradigm" written with Eswar Prasad and published in May 2006 in the American Economic Review; "Entry Regulation as a Barrier to Entrepreneurship" written with Leora Klapper and Luc Laeven and published in 2006 in the Journal of Financial Economics.
Rajan's work has earned him a number of awards. He received the inaugural Fischer Black Prize in 2003, which is awarded by the American Finance Association for the person under 40 who has contributed the most to the theory and practice of finance.
After getting a bachelor's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi in 1985 and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in 1987, Rajan moved to the United States where he earned a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a thesis entitled "Essays on Banking." He joined the Chicago Booth faculty in 1991.
Outside of the classroom, Rajan enjoys squash, tennis, cricket, cooking, reading, and traveling.
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