Karthik Muralidharan is the Tata Chancellor’s professor of economics at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). His research spans public finance and development economics with a focus on improving education, health, welfare, and public service delivery; and has been published in leading academic journals including the American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy, and Econometrica. He is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and an affiliate of the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL), the International Growth Centre (IGC) and several leading global research organizations. His book, “Accelerating India’s Development” (Penguin 2024) has achieved national bestseller status in India, and received the Crossword Book Award 2024 with the citation calling it: “an exceptional work” and a “landmark contribution that will resonate for years to come”. Prof. Muralidharan has actively engaged in policy advising and capacity building in India, and in public communication of research insights through several op-eds and podcasts. He is also the co-founder and scientific director of the Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS), a non-profit organization that works with multiple state governments across India to improve state capacity, governance, and service delivery. Born and raised in India, he holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard, an MPhil from Cambridge (UK), and a PhD in economics from Harvard.
