Rohini Pande Appointed Visiting Professor of Business and Development 2025
Rohini Pande is the Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Growth Center at Yale University. She is also the faculty director of Inclusion Economics at Yale. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an Econometric Society fellow, and a former co-editor of American Economic Review: Insights. In 2018 Professor Pande received the Carolyn Bell Shaw Award from the American Economic Association for promoting the success of women in the economics profession. Most recently, she was awarded the 2022 Infosys Prize in Social Sciences.
Professor Pande’s research, which has influenced policy in South Asia and globally, explores how institutions shape economic, political, and environmental inequality in low- and middle-income countries, with a particular focus on public policies that empower disadvantaged groups. She is interested in the role of public policy in providing the poor and disadvantaged political and economic power, as well as how notions of economic justice and human rights can legitimize and enable such change. With Inclusion Economics India Center, she is working with Indian state governments on gender-inclusive rural development and digital policies and with Inclusion Economics Nepal she is evaluating policies to strengthen quality of policy-making by elected local governments. Her recent work includes collaborations on environmental economics, such as the study "Money (Not) to Burn: Payments for Ecosystem Services to Reduce Crop Residue Burning," published in the American Economic Review: Insights (March 2025).
The Sanjaya Lall Visiting Professorship was created by Oxford University in 2011 to honour the memory and academic legacy of the pioneering development economist and St John's alumnus, Professor Sanjaya Lall (1940-2005; PPE, 1960). The chair has been associated with St John's since the 2023/24 academic year and Professor Pande will be made an Associate Fellow during her professorship. Recently, this chair was held by the Nobel-prize winning economist, Professor Daron Acemoğlu.
" Sanjaya Lall was a leading light in Development when I was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and I am honoured and excited to return to Oxford as the Sanjaya Lall Visiting Professor. " Professor Rohini Pande
As the Sanjaya Lall Visiting Professor, Professor Pande will deliver public lectures and participate in academic discussions, enriching the intellectual life of the College and the wider University.
Her upcoming lectures include:
- Sanjaya Lall Lecture: Tuesday 13 May, 17:30 – 19:00
- CSAE/Development Seminar: Wednesday 11 June, 12:30 – 14:00
Please check the Department of Economics website for further details of these events.
We look forward to welcoming Professor Pande to St John's in May.