Anil Deolalikar
Understanding Economics Around the World
In today’s environment of unprecedented financial uncertainty, Anil Deolalikar is an economic expert with a unique understanding: How are the most vulnerable—those at the bottom of the global economic ladder—affected? The UCR professor of economics has published extensively on poverty, health, education and social protection in developing countries.
The UCR researcher recently participated in the Copenhagen Consensus 2008, a group of the world’s most distinguished economists who meet every four years to identify the best cost-effective solutions to ten of the world’s biggest challenges. He was one of three economists to recommend this year’s top-ranked solution, proposing highly effective strategies to attack hunger and malnutrition worldwide. Deolalikar also recently analyzed the state of hunger in India using a new India State Hunger Index developed by UCR and the International Food Policy Research Institute. The index is useful as an advocacy tool to identify those in need and to build awareness of discrepancies in hunger levels across different regions.
For me,living the promisemeans using the vast research and scientific expertise that we have at UCR to come up with practical, cost-effective solutions to real-world challenges facing our region, our state, our nation and the world — challenges such as global poverty, disease and hunger; climate change and environmental degradation; suburban sprawl; water and energy security; and, more recently, the economic meltdown and the housing foreclosure crisis. As a university, we have a moral obligation to use our privileged position in society to improve the lives of our fellow citizens. To me, living the promise is fulfilling this obligation.
Combining impeccable credentials from Harvard, Cambridge, Stanford, and Yale with extensive international experience, Deolalikar conducts research focused on economic development, human capital, and public policy. In addition to his research, he has been an advisor to a number of developing-country governments and international organizations, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and the United Nations Development Program, helping to design and implement economic and social policy interventions.
Deolalikar’s government expertise has found fertile ground at UCR, where he has spearheaded the successful effort to launch a School of Public Policy. Recently, the UC Board of Regents unanimously approved the establishment of the graduate school, which will admit its first class of students in fall 2010. The new school will focus on a range of social and environmental policy issues, particularly those related to population growth and immigration – a good match for our fast-growing Inland Southern California region. Deolalikar is also leading an effort at UCR to establish a multi-disciplinary research and training Center for Water-borne Diseases, which would be part of the UC-wide School of Global Health that is currently in the advanced stages of planning.
