Rate My Professor Gaurav Datt

Gaurav Datt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and Deputy Director of the Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability at Monash University’s Business School, where he has been since 2011. He earned his PhD in Economics from the Australian National University in 1990 and a Master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi in 1983. His early academic roles included Lecturer in the Department of Economics at Hindu College, University of Delhi (1983-1985) and Guest Lecturer at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (1984-1985). Datt brings over two decades of experience from leading international development organizations. He served as Economist in the World Bank’s Poverty and Human Resources Division (1990-1996), Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (1996-1999), Senior Economist in the East Asia Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit (1999-2009), and Senior Economist for Economic Policy and Poverty in the South Asia Region (2009-2011).

Datt’s research focuses on poverty, income distribution, education, labour, and social policy in countries across Asia, the Pacific, and Africa, such as India, China, Egypt, Laos, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Timor-Leste. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and authored key World Bank poverty assessment reports, including “From Poor Areas to Poor People: China’s Evolving Poverty Reduction Agenda” (2009) and “Papua New Guinea: Poverty Assessment” (2004). Notable journal articles include “Poverty and Growth in India Over Six Decades” (2020, American Journal of Agricultural Economics), “Coal Plants, Air Pollution and Anemia: Evidence from India” (2023, Journal of Development Studies), “Progressivity and Redistributive Effects of Income Taxes: Evidence from India” (2022, Empirical Economics), and “Distribution-sensitive Multidimensional Poverty Measures” (2019, World Bank Economic Review). He also authored the book “Bargaining Power, Wages and Employment: An Analysis of Agricultural Labor Markets in India” (1996). With over 14,000 citations on Google Scholar, his work has significantly influenced development economics.