Professor Sayantan Ghosal
- Adam Smith Chair in Political Economy (Economics)
telephone:
01413302593
email:
Sayantan.Ghosal@glasgow.ac.uk
Gilbert Scott Building, Glasgow, G12 8qq
Biography
Sayantan is Professor of Economics at the Adam Smith Business School and Dean of Interdisciplinarity and Impact at the Colege of Social Sciences. He was a Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick from 2004 to 2013 where he was Research Director of the ESRC funded Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE). He also has a PhD from CORE, Universite Catholique de Louvain under the European Doctoral Program in Quantitative Economics.
Sayantan undertakes a number of activities; he:
- co-ordinates the interdisciplinary network “Behavior, Structure and Interventions”at the University of Glasgow
- is the academic lead for the ESRC funded Impact Acceleration Account at Glasgow
- is an academic ambassador for the research beacon “Addressing Inequalities”
- is a co-investigator on the ESRC funded “Rebuilding Macroeconomics Network”, and
- is the Principal Investigator in an ESRC-DFID funded project based in India starting in March 2018.
He is also also:
- a member of the ESRC Capability Committee,
- an external Research Fellow for ESRC Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE) where he was Research Director from 2010 - 2012
CV: Professor Sayantan Ghosal (pdf)
Research interests
Sayantan is a member of the Microeconomics research cluster.
Areas of expertise:
- Foundations of general equilibrium
- Behavioural welfare economics
- Poverty, marginalisation and internal constraints
- Financial crisis
- Endogenous formation of networks and groups
- Political economy
- Global cooperation and climate change
- Long-run growth
Grants
- ESRC research grant R000239216 (with M. Miller, J. Thomas and L.Zhang) “Moral Hazard and Financial Crisis”, (worth £90,000) 2001-2005.
- ESRC research grant RES 156-25-0032 (with E. Kohlscheen and L. Zhang) “Moral Hazard, Political Economy and Behavioural Approaches in International Finance”, “World Economy and Finance programme” (worth £160,000) 2005-2008.
- Secondment to ESRC funded research centre CSGR, University of Warwick, in form of teaching buyouts, 3 terms, worth £24,000.
- Research contract from Chaire Mercosur de Sciences Po, Paris, France, to write a report on “Managing Financial Crisis in Emerging Markets: New Developments in Review", (worth $5,000).
- Research grant from the Warwick Institute of Advanced Studies to develop a Warwick South Asia Group, 2007-8, (worth £6000).
- ESRC-DFID research grant RES-167-25-0364 “Chronic Poverty and Aspirations Failure”, 2008-9, (worth £143,194).
- ESRC Seminar Series, “Climate Change- Managing the Policy Challenges”, (with Andrew Sentence and John Whalley), 2009-11 (worth £18,000).
- ESRC Centre Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE) (with Nick Crafts (Director), Ghosal (Research/Deputy Director, 2010-12)), 2010-15 (worth £3.6 million/£4.5 million at FEC).
- Monash-Warwick Conference in Development Economics (co-PI Lisa Cameron (Monash), 2012-13 (£20,000, declined due to move to Glasgow University from Warwick University).
- Funding from Scottish Institute for Research in Economics to organise a Glasgow-SIRE Workshop in Microeconomic Theory, 29-30th November, 2013 at Glasgow University (£5,000).
- Research Strategy and Innovation Office, University of Glasgow, £5,000 per annum, to set up an interdisciplinary research network “Behavior, Structure and Interventions”, 2014-.
- Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Scholarship on “The allocation of attention and mitigation of disease transmission: theory and evidence from Tanzania” with (Dr. Katie Hampson and Dr. Tiziana Lembo), 2015-19, (£90,000).
- ESRC Impact Acceleration Award (Responsive Mode), “Using economics and psychology to inform the design of pro-poor policies in India and Scotland”, 2015-17, (worth £8,950+£1,875).
- Co-I, ESRC Rebuilding Macroeconomics Network Plus Grant (PI: Dr. Angus Armstrong (NIESR) £4.6 million FEC), 2017-2021.
- PI, ESRC-DFID research grant, “Disadvantage and Participation Accountability Processes: Theory and Evidence from School Development and Management Committees in Karnataka, India”, (Co-I: T. Koutmeridis, C. Chapman, M. Schweisfurth, P. Dalton) £699,990 (FEC), 2018-2021.
Supervision
- Guo, Kaizhao
Automation Technologies and Low-Skill Labour Supply: Evidence from Labour Markets in the UK - Malova, Anna
Climate Change: Game-Theoretic Perspective - Siwecki, Daniel
A quantifiable model of a Global Basic Income and Cash Transfer Programmes - Wen, Jinglin
Gender, Justice, and Crime: An Empirical Analysis
Teaching
Behavioral economics, undergraduate honours, 2013-2016
- Behavioral economics, postgraduate taught, 2013-2017
- PhD training course, Behavioral economics, 2013
- Microeconomics, core module, 1st year MRES, 2015-present
- Applied microeconomics, optional 2nd year module, MRES, 2016-present
Additional information
- Large-scale fieldwork
- Articles in books
- Impact and knowledge exchange
- Policy papers
- Other publications
- Press briefings/interviews
- Invited participant
- Invited professor/researcher
- Membership national-level research committees, advisory boards and editorial boards
- Membership of scientific/program committee of international conferences
- Organiser/co-organiser of academic workshops
- Invited speaker at conferences and workshops
- Service at other universities
- Scholarships awarded
- Refereeing/editorial work
Large-scale fieldwork
- In Kolkata, India, in collaboration with the Durbar Foundation, a long-term piece of fieldwork to examine the impact and the channels through which such impact occurs, of a training program "Dream Building", aimed at a marginalised, stigmatised group of sex workers in Kolkata, on aspirations, self-perception (as measured by self-efficacy and locus of control) and actions (e.g. savings behaviour) to improve their own well-being (with Anandi Mani (Oxford), Sanchari Roy (Kings College), Smarajit Jana (Durbar) and Sandip Mitra(ISI Kolkata).
- In Karnataka, India, to examine the impact and the channels through which such impact occurs, of empowerment training (e.g. ReflectionAction!) on the ability of disadvantaged groups to engage in collective action (ensuring effective participation in School Management and Development Committees) in the presence of more socially and optically powerful agents and groups (with Patricio Dalton (Tilburg), Chris Chapman (Glasgow), Michelle Schweisfurth (Glasgow), Theo Koutmeridis (Glasgow), Meena Nair (Public Affairs Centre) and Satyajeet Nanda (Public Affairs Centre).
Articles in books
- "Managing Financial Crisis in Emerging Markets: New Developments in Review”, (with M. Miller), in A G. A. Valladao and P da Motta Veiga (eds): Political issues in the EU-Mercosur Negotiations. Paris: Chaire Mercosur De Sciences Po, 2003, pp. 54-94.
- Unilateral measures and emissions mitigation. (with S. Chatterji, S. Walsh and J. Whalley), In: Stern, N., Bowen, A. and Whalley, J. (eds.) The Global Development Post-Durban of Policy Regimes to Combat Climate Change. Series: The Tricontinental Series on Global Economic Issues: Volume 4 World Scientific Global Policy Series, World Scientific. ISBN: 978-981-4551-84-7 (hardcover) and ISBN: 978-981-4551-86-1 (ebook)
Impact and knowledge exchange
- Scottish Government, Chief Economists Office, Acted as critical friend and prepared Policy Report included in Policy Papers for Inclusive Growth Diagnostics developed by government economists, 2016-17.
- USHA Cooperative, Government of West Bengal and NABARD (National Bank for Rural Development), Training Programmes for Self-help Groups, 2016 onwards, ongoing project.
- NHS Scotland, Project for Counter Fraud Services to recover £1-£5 million a year, 2016 onwards, ongoing project.
Policy papers
- “The Design of Pro-Poor Policies”, Chapter 6 in “Reversals of Fortune: A Long-Term Perspective on Global Economic Prospects”, CAGE Policy Report, May, 2013.
- “The Design of Pro-Poor Policies”, Chatham House Policy Briefing Paper, July 2013.
- Cited and discussed in Bloomberg
Other publications
- “Lenders' inaction does them little credit”, (with M. Miller), The Guardian, 12th May, 2003.
- “Bank runs and noisy signals”, (with J. Boonprakaikawe), Chulalongkorn Journal of Economics, Vol. 16, No. 2, 2004.
- Written evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on “IMF and Globalisation”, 2005.
- “How central banks adopt “constructive ambiguity” approach”, (with M. Miller), Letter to the Financial Times, 24th October, 2007.
- Written evidence to the Independent Commission on Banking (UK, chaired by John Vickers), (with P. Hammond, M. Miller, M. Waterson and L. Zhang), 2010.
- “Magic Potion”, The Economic Times, Wednesday, 29th July, 2011.
- “Poverty and Aspirations Failure”, Special Report
- “Lack of Aspirations as a Poverty Trap”, Column in Ideas for India
- “Breaking Poverty Traps”, article for Financial Chronicle (KNOW), August 6th, 2013.
- “Raise Aspirations to Break the Poverty Trap”, article in The Conversation
- “Action needed to raise kids out of poverty”, The Scotsman, 13th September, 2013.
- Written submissions for Scotland's Economic Future Post-2014 Inquiry, “Aspirations Failure and Poverty Traps”, January, 2014
- “International Markets”, The Times of India (Education Times), New Delhi, 19th May, 2014.
- “The main reason markets are falling? The future looks gloomier than it did before”, article in The Conversation reprinted as “The main reason markets are jittery? The future looks gloomier than it did before.”, The Week,
- "If you think the eurozone will be safe from Grexit contagion, think again" (with D. Thomas), The Conversation,
- “Argentine debt restructuring and bargaining theory“ (with Marcus Miller), VOXEU CEPR’s Policy Portal
- Written submission to Finance Committee of Scottish Parliament on taxation policy (in response to a Call for Evidence), May 2016.
- “Poverty and Aspirations Failure”, The Dialogue, August 1, 2016,
- “Understanding the Paris Agreement: Unilateral Actions within a Multilateral Policy Framework”, The Dialogue, (with S. Chatterji),
- “Eurozone QE creates breathing space – here’s what governments must do now”, The Conversation,
- “The left’s response to Trump and alt-right must be international”, The Conversation,
- “A new bargaining perspective on sovereign debt restructuring”, (with Marcus Miller) VOXEU CEPR’s Policy Portal,
Press briefings/interviews
- “How to prevent another Northern Rock”, (with S. Chatterji), RES Press Briefing (with recorded interview); 17th March, 2008;
- Interview, Marketwatch.com (part of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network), March, 2008;
- “Raising low aspirations is vital to reducing poverty”, Feature on ESRC website by Phil Thornton based on “Poverty and Aspirations Failure”, November 2011.
- Interview, Good Morning Scotland, BBC Scotland, 27th July, 2013.
- Interview, Good Morning Scotland, BBC Scotland, 27th May, 2014.
- Interview, CNBC, 21/2/2017 for an article on basic income
- Interview, Daily Record, for an article on basic income
Invited participant
- Winter Meetings of the European Econometric Society, 11-13 January, 2001, Venice. (This is for a selected group of 20 academic economists under the age of 35. Only two economists are selected from the U.K. each year.) (Invited by Prof. R. Blundell, UCL).
- Economic Journal Lecture (with M. Miller), Royal Economic Society Meetings, 2002.
Invited professor/researcher
- THEMA, University de Cergy-Pontoise, Paris, 2004-5, 2007-8, 2016-7; Singapore Management University, July, 2009; Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton, July 2002; Columbia University, April, 2016.
Membership national-level research committees, advisory boards and editorial boards
- Advisory Board, Centre for Economic Growth and Policy, Durham Business School, Durham University, 2009-
- ESRC Peer Review College, 1st July, 2010-
- ESRC-ICSSR Committee, 2010-
- ESRC/HMT Macroeconomics Postdoctoral Research Fellowships Commissioning Panel, 2010
- ESRC/DFID Growth Programme, Commissioning Panel, 2011
- ESRC Large Grants and Centre Call, Commissioning Panel, 2013/14
- ESRC/DFID Growth Programme, Commissioning Panel, 2013/4
- Advisor, Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, 2015-
- ESRC Capability Committee, 2015-
- ESRC Foundations of Macro-Economy Expert Working Group, 2015-6
- ESRC Mental Health Expert Working Group, 2015-6
- ESRC Productivity Expert Working Group, 2015-16
- ESRC Early Career Researchers Working Group, 2016
- ESRC Commissioning Panel on Doctoral Training Programmes, 2016
- Chair, ESRC GCRF SDAI, Commissioning Panel, 2016
- ESRC Committee Liaison Member, for two ESRC DTPs, 2016-
Membership of scientific/program committee of international conferences
- “16th European Workshop on General Equilibrium, June 9 - 10, 2007”
- Royal Economic Society Meetings, 2006-9
- European Econometric Society Meetings, 2008
- “25th European Workshop on General Equilibrium, June 19 - 20, 2016”
Organiser/co-organiser of academic workshops
- “World Economy and Finance”, Summer Research Workshop and Conference, Warwick, 11-15 July 2007.
- "Climate Change Workshop" on the 22 January 2008 (with Andrew Sentence and John Whalley and co-funded by the Center of Globalisation and Regionalisation and Globalisation at Warwick, CIGI and the Department of Economics at Warwick).
- “Warwick South Asia Workshops”, 14-18 April 2008.
- “WEF Workshop on Incentives and Governance in Global Finance” (with E. Kohlscheen, L. Zhang, J. Driffil, M. Miller), 18-19 July 2008.
- “Farewell Conference for Marcus Miller, July 18 2008” (with M. Ellison, N. Rankin and L. Zhang).
- “Out-of-equilibrium markets”, (funded by the Mathematics Interdisciplinary Institute and Department of Economics, University of Warwick), 19 January 2009.
- “ESRC Seminar Series Workshop: Climate change- The Policy Challenge”, University of Warwick, 13 March 2009.
- “Aspirations and Poverty”, An interdisciplinary workshop, University of Warwick, 14 -15 December 2009 (with P. Dalton).
- “ESRC Seminar Series workshop: International Climate policy after Coppenhagen”, CAGE, University of Warwick, 24 February 2010 (with Andrew Sentence and John Whalley).
- “Inequality and Aspirations”, CAGE, University of Warwick, 6 July 2011 (with S. Roy).
- Special Sessions on “Methods in Field Experiments” and “Measuring happiness and well-being”, 5th ESRC Research Methods Festival, St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, 2-5 July 2012.
- CAGE workshop on Poverty and Welfare, 30 June 2013.
- Glasgow-SIRE Workshop in Microeconomic Theory, 29-30 November 2013 at Glasgow University (with A. Kovalenkov. T. Hayashi and Y. Vailakis).
- Behavior, Structure and Interventions Interdisciplinary Workshop, at Glasgow, 6-7 February 2015.
- “Marginalisation, Stigma and Choice”, (joint Behavior, Structure and Interventions Research Network and Policy Scotland Workshop), 22-23 June 2015.
- “Persistent Deprivation and Internal Constraints: Analysis and Policy Interventions”, (Behavior, Structure and Interventions Research Network Workshop), 12 February 2016.
- “Inequality, Conflict and Violence”, (Behavior, Structure and Interventions Research Network Workshop) 9-10 June 2016.
- “Sovereign Debt Restructuring”, (Joint Behavior, Structure and Interventions Research Network and Center for International Governance Innovation (Canada) Workshop), 29-30 August 2016.
Invited speaker at conferences and workshops
- International Symposium on Mathematical Programming for Decision Making: Theory and Applications (ISMPDM07), 10-11 January 2007, part of the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of the Indian Statistical Institute;
- “The Liquidity Risk Forum” (Organised by Liquidatum, 7 February 2008); 14 March 2008;
- “Credit Boom, Credit Crunch and Central Banking” (Special Session at RES 2008 organised by John Driffil for the ESRC World Economy and Finance Research Program);
- “Reconciling Normative and Behavioural Economics”, (A Conference held at University of East Anglia, Organised by Robert Sugden, 3-5 April 2008).
- “The new Microfoundations of Macroeconomics”, (ESRC World Economy and Finance Research Program conference held at University of Warwick, Organised by John Driffil, Marcus Miller, Tom Krebs, Peter Hammond), 14 -15 July 2009).
- “Behavioral Decisions and Welfare”, Office of Fair Trade, September 15 2009.
- “Unilateral Actions and Emissions Mitigation”, Go Green Week, Wednesday 13 January, 2010.
- “Game Theory for Finance, Social and Biological Sciences”, MIRAW, 14th -17 April, 2010.
- CESIFO Summer Institute, 2010, “Behavioral Welfare Economics”.
- “Globalisation and the (Mis)Governance of Nations”, LSE Economics Conference, 12 March 2011.
- ESPA Poverty Workshop, St. Anne’s College, Oxford, 27-28 September 2011.
- “Poverty and Aspirations Failure”, Warwick International Development Summit 2011, November 2011.
- “Psychology of Poverty”, Lancaster University, 7 February 2012.
- Workshop on “The Global Development Post-Durban Of Policy Regimes To Combat Climate Change”, organised by Alex Bowden and John Whalley, London School of Economics, 13 March 2012.
- Special session on “Political Economy of Institutions”, RES, Cambridge University, 26 March 2012.
- Growth and Policy Conference, Durham University, 16-17 March 2013.
- Bounded Rationality in Choice, St. Andrew’s University, 30-31st July 2013.
- Annual Economic Theory Workshop, University of York, 13 March 2014.
- 4th World Bank Conference on Equity, “Aspirations, Poverty and Inequality”, Washington DC, 29-30 May 2014.
- Glasgow Economic Forum, 15-16 March, 2015.
- Growth and Policy Conference, Durham University, May 2015.
- Conference on Sovereign Debt Restructuring, organised by Centre for International Governance Innovation and Columbia Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University, 22 September 2015 (invited by Prof. Joseph Stiglitz and Dr. Martin Guzman).
- Workshop on “Inclusive Growth”, organised by the Scottish Economics Society and Government Economics Service (invited by Dr. Gary Guillespie, Chief Economist, Scotland), 23 October 2015.
- Conference in honor of Bhaskar Dutta's 65 Birthday, invited by Arunava Sen and Debasis Mishra, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi, 20-21 December 2015.
- ICSEI 2015, Glasgow University, “State of the Art Session”, 7 January 2016
- Interdisciplinary workshop on Sovereign Debt Restructuring, Georgetown University, 21-23 January 2016 (invited by Prof. Anna Gelpern (Georgetown University) and Prof. Mitu Gulati (Duke University).
- Growth and Policy Conference, Durham University, May 2016-.
- ASEMLLEL, Glasgow University, June 2016-.
- Imagineering the Human Future, Glasgow University, Glasgow Festival of Science, June 2016.
- Adam Smith and Economic Exchange, Glasgow University, March 2017.
- Growth and Policy Conference, Durham University, May 2017.
- Global Young Academy, “Social Justice in a Changing World”, May 2017
- “Optimism and Pessimism about the Human Future”, Glasgow Festival of Science, June 2017.
- World Conference of International Economic Association, Invited Session on Sovereign Debt (organised by Martin Guzman and Joe Stiglitz), June 2017.
- Workshop on “Disadvantage”, funded by British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award (BARSEA) Early Career Network on ‘Inequality Conflict and Violence’, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Young Academy of Scotland, 6-7 July 2017.
- Interdisciplinary Sovereign Debt Research and Management Conference (DebtCon), 5-6 October 5-6 2017, Geneva, Switzerland.
Service at other universities
External examination:
- PhD: LSE, Keele, Birmingham, York, Warwick
- MSc Economics and Finance, LSE (2005); MSc and BSc Economics, Manchester (2005-8)
- MSc Economics, Birkbeck 2009-10
- BSc Economics, Bath 2010-12
External member:
- Electoral Board for Professorship at Manchester
- External Advisor for promotions at Singapore Management University, Southampton and Queen Mary College (University of London)
Scholarships awarded
- PhD fellowship at CORE, Universite Catholique de Louvain, 1991-95
- National scholarship at the Delhi School of Economics, 1988-90
- College Merit Scholarship, Elphinstone College, University of Bombay, 1986-87
Refereeing/editorial work
- Econometrica, American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Economic Theory, Games and Economic Behaviour, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of International Economics, Journal of Public Economics, Economic Journal, Journal of the European Economic Association, International Economic Review, Economic Theory, American Economic Journal (Microeconomics), Journal of Mathematical Economics, Journal of International Money and Finance, Journal of Theoretical Politics, Journal of Public Economic Theory, Review of Economic Design, International Review of Law and Economics, Annales d’Economie et de Statistiques, Manchester School, Bulletin of Economic Research, Journal of International Development.
- Editorial Board of Journal of Mechanism and Institution Design.
- Guest Editor, Special issue on “Sovereign Debt Restructuring” (publication planned in 2018), Oxford Economic Papers (with Marcus Miller (Warwick) and Domenico Lombardi (Center for Governance Innovation (Canada).
- Refereed research proposals and end-of award reports for ESRC, National Science Foundation, USA, Israel Research Council, Austrian Research Council
- Refereed book proposals for Princeton University Press and Cambridge University Press.
- Invited reviewer for Mathematical Reviews, American Mathematical Association, 2008-2012.